Faithfully Yours
by MichelleBA
Summary: Tony and Michelle's relationship from the beginning, pre-season 1 through dating, engagement, marriage, divorce, and everything in between
1. Chapter 1 Hold On

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters. Song lyrics by Good Charlotte.

Hello! This is a story I will be writing for a very long time probably. This story will take us through Tony and Michelle's life from the beginning, (pre-season 1) through dating, engagement, marriage, divorce, and everything in between. I hope you all enjoy, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions please review! Reviewing is what makes it worth it so please take the time to! Thanks for reading, now here's what you came for….

_This chapter begins in the pre-CTU time of Michelle's life, and the pre-Michelle period of Tony's life._

Chapter 1

Did things really need to be this hard? 'Why does he have to be so difficult' she thought as she passed through security on her way into Division, where she worked. She knew she should be patient with him. She knew he was just acting this way because he was in yet another fight with his wife, but screaming at her and blaming her won't make that better. 'All he's doing is making it worse' she thought to herself as she waved to Carrie across the hall. Carrie smiled and waved back. She logged onto her computer as she saw Carrie approach.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked briskly.

"Ugh" Michelle complained.

"What is it Danny again?" she asked with a smile.

"Uh huh. He blames her for everything then comes to my house, sulks about it, says all these terrible things about her and then gets mad at me when I don't completely agree. I think he's just being immature." She said looking up "I'm trying so hard to be supportive, but this is getting old."

"Hang in there" She said encouragingly reaching out and giving her shoulder a squeeze.

_(Meanwhile at CTU Los Angeles)_

All right he was definitely having a bad day. 'Why does she have to be so difficult' He thought as he stalked away from her station after being snarled at by her. Maybe it was that time of month, but jeez could she be any nastier. He sat at his computer. It was a slow day. He was bored. He began to think about his future. Would he really end up marrying her? He didn't know, every time he brought up commitment she seemed to get really quiet and change the subject, anyone else would not realize it, but Tony could tell she didn't want to commit, which bothered him. He was not the type to be mushy at all, but he wanted someone he could rely on to always be there, and he was beginning to wonder if it was really her or not.

"Tony!" he heard his name called and came out of his thoughts as he walked over to Nina "Initialize these new protocols"

"I thought Jaime was gonna do that" he said humbly.

"Well now you are, I have her on something else, so quit questioning me and go." She said.

"You ok? You wanna go to dinner tonight, maybe it'll make you feel better" he tried lightly.

"I'm busy tonight. Get to work." She said uninterestedly. 'With what?' he thought 'Your always too busy.'

That hurt, his day just kept getting worse. It must have been written all over his face cause as George Mason passed him he muttered, "It only lasts a week, hang in there Almeida."

'Well looks like another boring night tonight, maybe I can watch a re-run of that Cub's game last week… an 8-0 win…so sweet' he thought with a smile.

(That night)

She stumbled in the door of her apartment and felt through the darkness for the light switch. Everything lit up. Her apartment was a disaster, beer cans everywhere things thrown everywhere and her favorite picture of her as a child on the floor the glass of the frame broken. She fell to her knees and picked it up, it had fallen from the wall. Then she heard footsteps. She looked up to see her brother in only sweat pants.

"What the hell!" she said, she had a bad day anyway and she couldn't take much more.

"Oh please don't even start." He said "I've heard it all before, all the lectures and-"

"Shut-up, just shut up. Your drunk and your saying things and right now I can't deal with this right now I'm tired and-"

"Oh sorry, you can't deal with me? Like I'm a chore or a problem. You know what I'll just get out of your way then." He said angrily

"Don't…look Danny just go to bed?" she said.

"Don't order me around, like your stupid boyfriend does to you" he said pointing his finger at her.

"Danny why do you have to-" she yelled pleadingly

"No, Michelle don't try to make this about me. Your just angry cause he orders you around, drinks, and che-"

"Out!" she yelled tears coming down her face. He stomped out and she threw him his shirt. He was wrong! So wrong! Jay was just going through a hard time. His parents died in a car crash, stupid drunk driver hit them and killed them both. He was having problems dealing with it, it was not Danny's place to comment. She put the picture down on the table and headed down the hallway to take a shower, but when she walked into her bedroom she saw Jay, her boyfriend, laying in her bed flicking through channels on the TV.

"What are you doing here?" she said trying not to sound harsh.

"Danny let me in. Didn't know I needed permission to set foot in you palace" he said sarcastically.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a shower," she said heading for the bathroom.

"What the hell's your problem?" he asked harshly.

"What?" she said tiredly, not wanting to have another fight.

"Well first you kick poor Danny out for no good reason, now you come in here and start with me, just wondering what's up your-" Michelle turned around toward the bathroom and shut the door behind her as he continued to yell at her… 'Keep it together, he's just venting, it's not his fault, just breathe, calm down… just breathe.' She told herself as she sat with her back to the door of the bathroom with tears silently streaming down her face.

'Why me?' she thought quietly. 'Come on Michelle pull it together you got this, just hold on, hang in there'

_Hold on_

_If you feel like letting go_

_Hold on_

_It gets better then you know_

_Don't stop looking_

_your one step closer _

_Don't stop searching _

_It's not over_

_Hold on_

Ok, I know this chapter was short and kind of sad but longer ones are to come.) Tony and Michelle should meet in the next chapter or two. Hope you enjoyed! Please review!

Since this is the first chapter I'll post two.


	2. Chapter 2 You Gotta Be

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters. (Song by Des' ree)

Chapter 2

'How much longer will this last' Tony thought to himself as he was called back in to CTU early the next morning. 'How much longer am I gonna deal with this 'I'm busy' crap. She needs to learn to make time for me. We'll never be able to further our relationship if she's always 'busy'' he thought while walking into CTU. ' It's 11:30 at night, wonder what's going on.' He thought silently

242424 - - - DAY ONE OCCURS - - - 242424

_(A few hours later)_

'How much longer will this last' Michelle thought as she lay in bed staring at the alarm clock it was 2 AM. She couldn't sleep. Jay had left – thankfully – but she just couldn't get to sleep. She couldn't help but wonder where Danny was and what he was doing. 'He's a grown man, he can take care of himself' she thought, but then the other side of her was thinking 'He was drunk and you kicked him out, he could have gotten into an accident you should go look for him, plus you're not going to sleep anyway.' She sat up and pulled on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt and headed to the door with her phone and keys. When she was in the car she dialed Carrie.

"Hello?" she said

"Sorry Carrie, did I wake you?" she asked

"No not at all what's up?" she asked, turning on to Carrie's street, luckily they didn't live far from each other.

"Well, um, this is kinda embarrassing but, uh, you know my brother? I introduced you two last month at that party? Well, you two got along pretty well, do you think you could help me look for him?" she asked.

"I, uh, look for him? Why?" she stumbled over her words.

"He was staying at my house. We got into a fight. It was stupid, um-" Michelle said quickly.

"I, uh, ok then I'll meet you in like an hour or uh-" she started.

"I'll be there in a minute," Michelle said pulling up to her house. She went to the door and rung the doorbell. Carrie opened the door.

"Uh hey I, uh" she said to Michelle.

Michelle walked in "So, I'm not really sure of his favorite bar whatever, but I think we can start-" she stopped dead in her tracks. "…Those are his pants." She said spotting the pants stuffed in the crack of the couch. She pulled them out and smelt them "These are his" she declared staring at Carrie who was lost for words. "…Explain" Michelle demanded.

"He well, I um- you know what? This isn't your business" Carrie said defensively.

"No it _is _my business! Where is he?" Michelle demanded.

"I'm right here, keep your shirt on," he said sarcastically. Walking in with just his boxers.

"Maybe if you could keep your pants on we wouldn't be here right now!" Michelle said harshly.

"Hey you forced me into this, you weren't there and Carrie was!" he yelled.

"I'm here now Danny, now lets go home, this is wrong and you know it," she said taking a step toward the door. She turned to Carrie "and you! I-"

"No you go home. I'll stay here," he said putting his arm around Carrie.

"Danny come on, you're throwing your life away. You have a family, you should go home to them," she pleaded.

"Leave" Carrie said pointing to the door.

"Danny?' Michelle persisted.

"Out!" Carrie said louder.

"Goodbye Michelle" he said.

"Danny don't do this," she pleaded as Carrie took a step toward her.

"I said 'goodbye Michelle'!" Danny screamed, and the room went silent. Tears were streaming down Michelle's face. She gave him a pleading look, and he pointed toward the door. She gave him one last glance before she turned and walked out.

It was cold out… So cold… She was upset… So upset. She hated herself for not being more supportive of him and listening to him, she hated herself for letting him leave, but not as much as she hated Carrie. Carrie. God she hated that woman. She knew about Danny problems with his marriage, knew that it was tearing his family apart. How could she? The past couple years they had become friends, now, when she needed a friend most Carrie stabs her in the back. How could she ever face Carrie again? Just the thought of her made Michelle angry. She definitely couldn't work with her anymore. 'I'm gonna have to transfer from Division, I can't bear to ever see her again' Michelle thought silently as she changed directions and began driving to Division. Then realized her appearance and immediately went back towards her house. 'I can't even think straight!' she moaned. As the radio played softly in the background.

_Listen as your day unfolds,_

_Challenge what the future holds_

_Try and keep your head up to the sky_

_Lovers they may cause you tears_

_Go ahead release your fears_

_Stand up and be counted_

_Don't be shamed to cry_

_You gotta be_

_You gotta be bad_

_You gotta be bold_

_You gotta be wiser_

_You gotta be hard_

_You gotta be tough_

_You gotta be stronger_

_You gotta be cool_

_You gotta be calm_

_You gotta stay together_

_All I know_

_All I know's that_

_Love will save the day_

She arrived at her house and got changed. On her way out she grabbed a granola bar and checked her messages. "You have no new messages," the machine informed her as she headed out the door.

She arrived at Division and went straight to her office, not waving at any of the night shift people like she normally would. She got into her office and began drawing up a request for transfer to another branch. When she was finished she placed it into Alberta Green (her department head)'s mailbox. Then headed home, good thing she had the day off.

_(Later that night (after day 1 of "24"))_

'How much longer will this last' he had thought earlier that day. Now he knew. She had betrayed him. He thought she might have been the one, but now he knows differently. He thought they were just going through a rough patch, but they weren't. He thought he might grow to love her, now he knew he would do the opposite.

He felt sick. He had let Teri be killed. He had let Nina betray him. His world was falling apart around him and he felt helpless as far as making it stop. All his muscles were tense and achy. He felt so alone, he didn't have too many friends anymore, he used to have a lot before he began working at CTU but drifted away from most of them, plus Nina was pretty anti-social so he felt disconnected.

_(The next morning)_

Michelle woke up and turned on the TV to see the news. What she heard shocked her. 'Oh no!' she thought while listening to the reporter. 'Why didn't they call me-' she stopped… 'What if they did?' she ran over to her answering machine to check her messages.

"Two new messages" the answering machine chirped. Michelle's heart sank, they had probably called, "First message…. 'Michelle? Where are you! I've been calling all day and-'" she heard Jay's voice say, She push skip. "Next Message….Michelle this is Alberta Green" Michelle froze "I just called to make an appointment to talk to you about this transfer request you gave me. Please give me a call back as soon as you can. Thank you" Michelle felt a lot better now. She picked up the phone and dialed Alberta Green.

"Green?" she heard

"Hello Miss. Green this is Michelle Dessler" Michelle said professionally.

"Hello Michelle. Is this about the transfer request?" she asked

"Yes it is" Michelle said

"Well, to start off I found your request rather sudden, and I would have preferred you go through your own supervisor before coming to me, but that's alright because actually I have a wonderful opportunity for you at this particular time." She said

"Oh, really? What position would that be?" Michelle asked curiously.

"I am sure you've heard on the news by now about yesterday's events as far as the president?" she began.

"Yes"

"I don't know if you've been briefed yet, but a mole was uncovered in CTU Los Angeles. So there is an unoccupied position as the Internet Protocol Manager. It's a decent position, and there's always room for progress." She paused "I've seen your resume and you seem like a prime candidate, so if you'd like I can transfer you there by the end of the week. We are very hard-pressed to get the position filled" she finished.

"That would be great" Michelle said smiling for the first time in days. Little did she know that she'd be smiling more and more in the days to come.

_Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please review if you have the time, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I will most likely update once or twice a week from now on. (Next update will be Thursday)_


	3. Chapter 3 You Learn

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters. (Song by Alanis Morissette)

Chapter 3

_(A few days later)_

It was a brand new day for Tony Almeida. As he woke he thought about the huge mistake he had make by trusting Nina. His heart ached just thinking about it. He felt sick. And even though he could not name any of the particular symptoms, he just felt sick, he felt like absolute crap. As he lay there in bed he promised himself he would never let him get that far with another woman. It wasn't worth it he decided.

_(Meanwhile)_

It was a brand new day for Michelle Dessler. As she got dressed she felt a little better than the previous week. She felt like she was breaking away. Away from her brother and Carrie, all her problems. If Danny didn't want her help she wouldn't force him. 'And Carrie can go fall in a ditch' she thought with a wicked smile. Today she would start her new job at CTU Los Angeles. She had cleaned out her desk at Division while carefully avoiding Carrie, which proved to not be as hard as she thought. 'Probably embarrassed that she's a dirty little-' she stopped 'today is not going to be about Carrie, in fact no more of my days will be.' She thought as she gazed into the mirror 'Today is about a new beginning without Danny or unnecessary stress or…her' she smiled and walked out of her room ready for her first day.

_(CTU Los Angeles)_

Tony had just arrived at CTU when George, their new director called him up to his office. 'This should be interesting' Tony thought silently

"Hey Tony" George said

"Hey, what's up?" Tony asked crossing his arms.

"New IPM is starting today," he said. Tony nodded his head "Make sure she gets everything she needs. She'll be working directly under you."

"She?" Tony asked.

"Yes 'she' Tony, as in a female." He stated, "Why is there a problem?" He asked.

"No. No problem" Tony said. Turning to leave thinking 'Hope she's an ugly, fat, smelly, old-' he stopped when he looked up to see her walking in '…Crap'. After a second he continued walking down the stairs. He walked over to her. "Hi I'm Tony Almeida"

"Hi, I'm Michelle Dessler. I'm the new IPM," she stated.

"Great, I'll help you get set up" he said. They walked across the bullpen together as Tony thought 'Just my luck…she's gorgeous'.

_(Later)_

Michelle felt good as she stepped into her car after her first day. Her new boss Tony seemed very nice. 'Very nice' she thought with a smile. George Mason seemed easy-going too, but Tony was definitely her favorite new co-worker. As she thought about her wonderful day her phone brought her back to reality.

"Dessler" she said 'I have to practice answering this way' she thought. At division this hadn't been a big deal, but at CTU everyone answered their phones this way, she noticed, so she should probably do the same.

"What?" Jay said.

"Oh hi Jay" Michelle said.

"Why'd you say your last name?" he asked

"That's the way I have to answer the phone at my new job, I was just practicing…you know trying to get into the habit of doing it." She explained.

"Oh, how'd that go?" he asked

"All right. I met my new boss," she said

"Hate her yet?" he said

That hurt. "No actually he's very nice," she said.

"'He'?" Jay asked

"Yeah, his name is Tony Almeida, and so far I like him a lot. He seems fair, relaxed and understanding." She said.

"Give it time," he said pessimistically. Then there was silence. "So anyway what're you doing tonight?" he asked.

"Nothing, so far" she said.

"Wanna go out to dinner?" he asked

"I'm kinda tired, wanna order in?" she asked hopefully.

"Not really" he said flatly.

"Fine, I'll meet you at my house and we'll go together" she said tiredly.

"K, love ya" he said casually.

"Bye" she said hanging up the phone. She hoped he didn't notice. She didn't feel comfortable saying it until she meant it, and she didn't think she loved him yet. Maybe someday she would, but not yet. The words 'I love you' held so much meaning and she didn't want to diminish it's meaning by saying to every guy she dated, even though she and Jay had been together for five months.

She pulled up to her house and he was already in the driveway. "Hey" he said.

"Hey" she said

"Ready to go?" he asked impatiently.

"Already? I want to get changed first." She said.

"Ok, but hurry" he said.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Yeah." He said.

She ran in and got changed into jeans and a casual shirt, then hurried back out the door, and climbed into his car. "Ready" she said

"Finally, lets go" he said pulling out. The drive to the restaurant was fairly short and uneventful, the radio played softly in the background.

_You live You learn_

_You love You learn_

_You cry You learn_

_You lose You learn_

_You bleed You learn_

_You scream You learn_

_You live You learn_

They pulled up to the restaurant, and headed inside. "We'll be joining the Gossitello party of 16" Jay told the hostess.

"What?" Michelle asked.

"All they guys are here. We're gonna watch the football game." He said

"You didn't tell me that!" Michelle said, "I don't wanna stay if that's what we're here for, I'm too tired and I have work tomorrow plus-"

"Michelle don't start complaining, I don't wanna hear it, k? Don't ruin the night.," he said disinterestedly.

"Excuse me? I'm not your child, I'm your girlfriend, and I think I deserve more respect than that- "she was cut off

"Right this way" the waiter said.

She followed reluctantly. As she did she heard loud, drunken hooting and hollering and looked up to see all Jay's _new_ friends yelling at a TV. "Nice" she mumbled.

The yelling and drinking continued for a while, and Michelle was getting really hungry, but couldn't get any help from a waiter. "Jay, can we leave now?" Michelle asked a very drunk Jay.

"Nah, it's just starting," he said.

She shook her head, "It's half time, come on let's go. I have to shower and-"

"I'm not ready to leave," he said turning away from her.

"Jay I have work tomorrow, please try to understand," she pleaded.

"Well, sorry if I'm not as understanding as Tony" he snapped.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"You're always so quick to compliment him yet your always complaining about me," he said.

"All I said was he was a nice boss" Michelle said defensively.

"Right" he said

"What? I never said I liked him like that, you can't possibly tell me you're jealous." She said

"Hmm another man you say is nice, fair, relaxed and understanding, and you'll be spending 10 hours a day with him. I have no reason to be worried?" he asked

"You have no reason to be worried." She said she was silent for a second. She hung her head, "I can't believe you don't trust me."

"I do" he lied

"No you don't, because if you did we wouldn't even be having this conversation." She declared. "I can't believe it. We've been together for five months and you don't trust me to be around another man."

"What do you want from me?" he asked angrily.

"I want to go home," she said.

"Well, I'm not ready to leave yet" he turned to the waitress "Another two beers for me".

"I'm leaving" Michelle declared getting up.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home" she said standing up.

"No your not" he grabbed her arm "Stay here, you don't even have a car."

"Let go of me" she pulled her arm with no success. He squeezed it harder "Ow ow, stop Jay that hurts. Jay you're squeezing too hard. Jay-"

"What?" he said angrily

"Please let go, your, your hurting me. Jay ow, let go." She said as she felt her eyes fill with tears but she held them back. He was drunk and didn't realize how much force he was using, but he was really hurting her Michelle decided. "Let go of me Jay!"

"Fine!" he said pushing her the other way.

Normally she could have caught herself, but the shock of it threw her off balance and she fell against another table. She hit the table and fell to the ground. A people turned around. "Excuse me ma'am are you okay?" One of the young waiters asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. It wasn't bad. He didn't mean to" she said quickly. Then she left the restaurant before she could fall apart. She got outside the restaurant and began walking down the sidewalk not even thinking to call a cab. 'He was just drunk he didn't mean it' she told herself 'he's just trying to recover from losing his mom. She meant a lot to him. He'll change. I know he will. He has to' she stopped walking and pulled out her phone to call a cab.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony hopped into his car and started up the engine thinking about his day as he drove. 'She was nice, and beautiful' he thought 'No. What am I doing? I letting myself fall again! I can't do this! I won't do this.' He decided 'I'm falling into the same trap as before. I will not do this.' He declared.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review! Next update Tuesday:)


	4. Chapter 4 Move Along

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by All American Rejects)

Chapter 4

As Michelle woke she thought about the previous night. 'He didn't mean it' she assured herself 'He was drunk.' She remembered 'Anger can sometimes be part of the grieving process. This is normal' she told herself as she looked in the mirror, but the bruise on her arm and lower back she saw begged to differ. 'This _is_ normal… right?'

_(Meanwhile)_

As Tony woke he thought about the previous night. 'I made a promise to myself. I'm going to keep it' he thought as he got ready. But, by the time he was heading out the door he realized that his mind hadn't left her all morning. He pulled up to the CTU 'Alright Almeida clear your head. Think objectively, it would never last, just focus on work.'

"Hey Tony" George called as Tony walked in. "You look tense" he commented as he walked by.

But Tony didn't have time to think about George's comment because just then she walked in. He looked the other way pretending not to notice, however he couldn't pretend not to notice when she said "Good Morning Tony" as she passed him.

"Hey Michelle" he said pretending to be busy.

This was already proving to be harder than he thought as he quickly glanced sideways look at her.

_(An hour later)_

He seemed tense she decided, although she could swear out of the corner of her eye she'd caught him a few times glancing at her unnecessarily, but she didn't mind, she just hoped he didn't catch her. A small voice behind her broke her train of thought.

"Michelle?"

She turned to see Amy one of her new co-workers. "Hey Amy"

"Hi, me and some of the other girls wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch together in the break room at 1"

"Sounds great," Michelle said with a smile.

"Ok, see ya then" Amy said as she hurried back to her station.

By lunchtime Michelle was starving, she couldn't wait to eat the sub sandwich she had bought that morning. She looked at the clock '12:53' "close enough" she mumbled grabbing her lunch bag from under her desk and heading toward the break room.

Amy turned around as she entered the room "Michelle!" she said happily. "Let me introduce you. This is Lisa from tech, Diane from medical, and Leslie from operations." She turned around "Everyone this is Michelle the new IPM"

"Hey" the girls said as they all sat down to eat.

"Hi" Michelle responded with a smile.

As they ate they made comfortable conversation and Michelle seemed to fit right in. "So anyway, did anyone notice _his_ shirt today?" Lisa said excitedly. All the girls smiled.

"Yeah he unbuttoned the top three buttons" Amy said with a huge smile.

"I love it when he does that!" Leslie squealed happily.

"Not as much as I love it when he wears those tight shirts," Diane said.

"Oh yeah" Leslie agreed

The girls giggled. Michelle looked at them puzzled. "Tony Almeida" Amy explained.

Michelle smiled and nodded her head. "Ahh see that! She notices too!" Leslie chirped.

Michelle's smile grew and she chuckled as the conversation turned to the new protocols that were being put into effect.

After lunch Michelle said goodbye to the other women and headed back to her station. 'They were nice' she thought 'I didn't realize how popular Tony was, I wonder if he knows it' she looked up and saw him at his station and chuckled when she saw his shirt and remembered the girls in the break room.

As soon as she logged back in Tony looked her way picked up some papers and began walking her way.

Tony reached her desk "Uh hey Michelle" she turned around. "I have these forms for you" he handed them to her.

"What are these for?" she asked.

"Uh CTU requires all their employees to take this self-defense course, because of CTU's high risk levels. It's not hard-core training, but they just teach a few things that'll help you protect yourself if there were ever a crisis at CTU such as a break-in or something." He said as he thought about her in that situation. 'I would never want her to get hurt' he thought.

"Alright so I just fill-out these and?"

Tony snapped out of his thoughts "Oh yeah fill those out and hand them back to me and you'll come here in the morning then after lunch go to the training facility for a few hours every day for a week."

"Oh ok" she said, "I'll get these filled out then"

"Thanks" he said, and then he headed back to his station.

_(That evening)_

Michelle arrived at her apartment just as the sun was setting. She walked in and saw Jay on the couch. "Hey Jay, uh how'd you get in here?"

"My day was fine thank you for asking and I know where you keep your key," he said getting off the couch and giving her a kiss. He smiled and headed to her kitchen. "How was your day?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Good, I got a chance to have lunch with some of my new co-workers" she said.

"Like…" he asked.

"Leslie, Lisa, and Diane. They were really nice," she said

"What about Tony?" he asked.

"What _about_ Tony?" she asked knowing what he was thinking.

"He wasn't there?" he asked

"No it was a girl thing," she said. "I also found out that I have to take a self-defense training course next week" she said changing the subject.

"Self-defense? Why?" he asked.

"Just in case of emergency" she said "It's no big deal"

"You don't need to learn how to defend yourself" he said quickly.

"My job requires it" she said wondering why he cared so much.

"Yeah whatever" he said going out to the living room to watch TV.

_(The following week)_

It was Monday, Tony was never a big fan of Mondays, but that was normal. He liked his job but like anyone he'd rather be sleeping in. As he drove to work with his coffee he thought about the day ahead annoying errors, cranky co-workers, selfish bosses, 'why do I like my job again?' he kept searching. 'Michelle Dessler that's why' he thought 'What is it about her?' he couldn't understand 'Yeah she's pretty, well beautiful, but its more than that, being in her company feels warm, she's always pleasant' having her around is nice he decided. 'But as a friend only' he reminded himself.

_(Meanwhile)_

It was Monday, just another day of the week to Michelle but today was her first day of training, which made her excited. On one hand she was nervous on the other hand she couldn't wait.

A few minutes after she arrived at CTU Tony met her at her desk "Good morning Michelle."

"Hey Tony" she said.

"As you know today's your first day of training, but before you start the course this afternoon we need a quick physical check-up so I'll take you down to medical so they can give you a physical just to make sire your good to go" he said.

"Ok" she said following him to medical.

When they got there he pointed to a doctor. "Michelle this is Doctor McKinnsey he'll being examining you"

Michelle shook his hand "Hi"

"Good morning" he said "Are you ready?" he asked

"Yeah" she answered.

"Ok then I guess I'll see you later" Tony said "Dr. if you could post the results when you're done…"

"Sure thing" he said

"Thank you doctor" Tony said exiting the room.

"So Michelle are you on any medications?"

"No"

"Felt sick or weird at all lately?"

"Nope"

"Any special conditions?"

"No"

"Sounds great now lets check your heart" he took out his stethoscope "Nice and strong. K Now we'll check your breathing," he lifted up the back of her shirt "Ouch this is pretty bad how did this happen?" he said indicating to the bruise, which had faded a little but was still visible "It looks about a week or two old"

"Oh I feel onto a table" she said trying not to sound nervous.

"Looks like it was pretty bad how'd you manage that?"

"Just one of those freak things, I kinda tripped and fell the wrong way" she said with a weak smile.

"Ok" he said unsurely "Can you give me a deep breath he said as he put the stethoscope to her back"

When he was finished about 10 minutes later he thanked her and posted her results, which were a clean bill of health, but he did add a side note about the bruise, just for record-keeping sake.

Michelle went to Tony's station with the form saying she could participate in the course signed by the doctor. "I'm done, here's the paper," she said handing it to him.

"Ok thanks, I'll send this over and you'll be all set to start the course this afternoon" he said with a smile. As she walked away he opened up her medical file just to double-check the doctors 'ok'. Everything looked normal until he read the side note 'that's odd, doesn't seem right' he thought suspiciously.

(A few months later)

'What am I doing' Michelle asked herself. 'I feel like I'm going in circles. Jay hasn't been getting better, our relationship is going nowhere and I haven't heard from Danny in months. Despite how much of a jerk he was I miss him. My job is the only stable thing, well actually it's not really stable sometimes I work late and other times I don't. Sometimes I have good days, others I don't. Some days nothing is going on, other days threat levels get high, but only one thing stays consistent. He's always there, other employees take sick days, come to work in different moods, but he is always there at 7:00 A.M., he's always pleasant but quiet, but he's always there saying good morning to me as I walk in, which by the way is the highlight of my mornings these days.'

_Go ahead as you waste your days with thinking  
When you fall everyone stands  
Another day and you've had your fill of sinking  
With the life held in your  
Hands are shaking cold  
These hands are meant to hold _

Speak to me 

_when all you got to keep is strong  
Move along, move along like I know you do  
And even when your hope is gone  
Move along, move along just to make it through  
Move along  
Move along_

_(Meanwhile)_

'What am I dong' Tony asks himself 'I keep telling my self that work and love have to stay separate, yet everyday I speed to make sure I am there at 7:00 A.M. so I can be there to greet her as she walks in which by the way is becoming the highlight of my day. I keep telling myself that I won't let anything develop for fear of what could happen, but despite all my promises I steal glances, I sit close by at meetings, I wave, I smile, god sometimes I flirt which by the way is totally against my rules, but the things I don't stop cause it feels so good. It's nice to have at least one good friend, even if it is an awkward, flirtatious, work, friendship that can never go further. Where am I going?' he asks himself '…and when will I be there'

As they thought these thoughts they never even for a second imagined that within a very short amount of time all their questions would be answered and their problems solved.

_Thanks to all you readers and reviewers out there!! The next chapter is gonna be big, I'll post it Thursady._


	5. Chapter 5 What Hurts the Most

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Rascal Flatts)

Chapter 5

"How did this happen?'" Tony said as George briefed him.

"I don't know," he said

"So you're saying that they have a small army and they are trying to hold an entire stadium hostage?"

"Yes," he said nodding his head. "We need to concentrate all of our forces and send them there immediately, but we need a ranking lead officer with some experience, that's where you come in"

"Me? George I don't have as much experience as you might-"

"It's you Tony" George said

"Fine"

"Keep in touch I'll be on comm," he said as Tony left this office.

'How did this happen?' Michelle thought as she realized that there had been a small security breach in the system. She got up to tell Tony but he was already coming up to her.

"We have an active code I am going into the field your gonna have to run comm"

"Well there was a – your what?" she asked

"I am leading our forces in the field, can you run comm?"

"Y- Yeah I can but-"

"Good I gotta go," he said following one of his men.

She took a breath 'He'll be back' she told herself as she started setting up the comm. units.

Tony got into the helicopter after he had gotten changed and loaded up. He felt bad about being short with her but he didn't wanna mess this up. 'Man its times like these when I really miss Jack Bauer' he thought with a sad sigh.

Tony knew that the entrances would be fully guarded so they landed a half a mile off and drove up to the side of the stadium. They arrived at the sight. It was quiet outside the stadium, there was no cheering, no screaming, it was dead silent. There were no guards on the outside.

CTU forces moved from both sides. "Ok on three move in one…two…" the comm. units went dead, so half the forces moved in the others were in confusion.

_(Meanwhile)_

"One, two…" Michelle listened to Tony. All the sudden the power went out the comm went dead. It was silent for a second before a loud crash was heard and shooting began. Michelle ducked under a nearby desk, the lights came back on a few seconds later a big man with 9 men behind him were right at the entrance to the bull pen. There were clusters of men station around the edge as well. George walked down the stairs of his office with his hands up as two men in black followed him.

"Everyone move over there!" he said indicating to a dark corner "And I want to see your hands! Form a line! Down on your knees!" Everyone complied in silence "Now I want all your phones!" The people hesitated; he fired a shot at the ceiling. Everyone jumped and he bellowed "Now!!" many cell phones slid across the floor to his feet "Get caught with a cell phone and I'll personally kill you, I don't care who you are no questions asked. Got it?"

The people nodded their heads except for George, the man pointed a gun at him and he said, "Yes"

"Now people this can be easy we don't want all of you, only a handful. Keep your mouths shut, and do as we tell you and you have a good chance to live, piss me off and your not walking outta here" he said

"Now do what you did this morning" he ordered one of his men. Michelle's heart sank 'the security breach' she thought mentally kicking herself for not doing something about it.

They logged in with ease. "Ok we'll take the director, George, and find me a couple techies," he ordered his man "good ones… best they got."

The man typed away vigorously "ok here you go Lisa Miller she looks like she knows what she's doing."

"Lisa Miller stand up" nothing happened "We can get a photo of you so don't try to hide or we'll kill you. So stand." Lisa stood slowly. "Good get over here," he pointed to where his other men were. "Restrain her," he said.

"Ok here's another one" the guy on the computer said "Kyle Galpa"

'God that kids so young' Michelle thought to herself as Kyle stood and went with Lisa.

"Ok get me a doctor or nurse or something just in case"

A minute passed "Diane Kitorez"

"Diane Kitorez stand please" she stood and followed the other two.

"Now last I need another smart one, kinda high up y'know?"

"Yeah one sec." The man on the computer said "Michelle Dessler"

"What's she do?" he asked. Michelle held her breath.

The man on the computer answered "Internet Protocol Security Manager"

"Perfect" the man said with a smile "Michelle Dessler stand" Michelle's knees went week, but despite that she stood, and headed over to the others. "Not bad" the man said looking her up and down.

"Alright you guys stay here and hold down the fort," he said indicating to the group of me to his left. "The rest of you come with me," he said so the five personnel and 7 of his men as they left the bullpen.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony and his men pushed their way through the front gate with considerable ease, the other forces followed soon after. The men were all taken and restrained in a short time. "That was too easy" Tony said one of his officers Richard Zanderson. "They were supposed to have an army here, that was nothing, are we sure this is the target?"

"That was what we were told by an anonymous tip. We came because it was true but the seriousness was apparently overestimated." He answered.

"What the hell happened to our comm" Tony asked.

"We're not sure"

"Have we had contact with CTU?"

"No"

"This was a trick… we need to get back to CTU now load up your men!" Tony ordered as he got back into his chopper.

_(Meanwhile)_

The men threw Lisa, Kyle, Diane, Michelle, and George in the back of a black van while the other men piled into another van. Michelle felt the van start beneath her feet and as the van began to move she felt completely helpless.

After what seemed to Michelle like a 15-minute ride the van stopped and shortly after the back doors of the van swung open. The men ordered them out. They took them into the office of the house there was a couch and a computer. The men ordered them to sit on the couch.

"My name is Paul Russolet. You people are gonna help me find the first lady. You" he pointed to Michelle "are gonna give me your access code. You two" he pointed to Kyle and Lisa "are gonna get me my information, and you" he indicated to George "are gonna make the necessary arrangements so that Mrs. Palmer and I to have a meeting." He turned to Diane "this might get a little messy and that's where you come in, but one wrong move and your dead." He addressed the group "I need to find out where she will be today and what kind of security is surrounding her"

"Kyle get into the system and find out where the president will be today." He ordered. Kyle sat down but hesitated.

"I won't do it," he said

"What do you mean you won't do it I thought you were useful! It's ok that's why I brought two," he said. He pulled out a gun and shot Kyle. "Diane take him to the next room and make sure he's dead." He turned to one of his men "Go with her" He turned around "Lisa your turn"

Lisa sat down and looked at the screen, she typed for a minute "It needs an internet security protocol code" she informed him shaking.

"That's ok we have the Internet security protocol manager here." he said turning to Michelle "Dessler what's your access code?" he asked

She remained silent.

He pulled her into a standing position "In case I didn't make this clear earlier... if you don't do what I want I will kill you" he warned "Your access code"

…silence remained… "Now!!" he said kicking her in the stomach, she fell to the ground.

Lisa whimpered "Shut up you!" he yelled pointing the gun at her fir a second and then focusing back on Michelle.

The other man came to the doorway of the room "The Galpa kid is dead"

"Good" he turned back to Michelle "What's your code!!" he yelled pulling her by her hair and punching her in the face. "I will kill you _believe me_! Your code _now_!!" he said.

She stayed silent.

He threw her down and shot her in the arm "What's the code!" he screamed as she let out a yelp.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony and his teams arrived at CTU to find all the remaining analysts tied up and gagged, but no hostiles "They're gone" Tony announced once CTU had been secured and the teams had checked all the rooms. They began un-gagging the analysts and other personnel.

Leslie blurted out "They kidnapped them!"

"Who?" Tony asked

"George, Kyle, Lisa, Diane…" he listened "…And Michelle" his heart stopped.

"Michelle Dessler?" he asked

"Yeah"

"How long ago?"

"Like 20 minutes ago"

"Thank you" he opened his phone and dialed Ryan Chappelle "Mr. Chappelle we have a situation."

"Almeida did you secure the stadium?"

"Sir that was a setup" he explained "they used that as bait so that CTU would be unguarded so they could take 5 of our personnel hostage"

"Why?"

"I don't know sir but we'll find out. I'm having our people check traffic cams to try and track them. I am gonna take a team and-"

"Your not going anywhere Almeida, you stay at CTU you're the ranking officer. Some one else can lead the teams you stay at CTU, I'm on my way"

"Yes sir I'll send Zanderson" Tony said reluctantly as he hung up. 'What if she's hurt?' he thought 'She could be in pain right now, why her? She never hurt anyone, she doesn't deserve this-' his thoughts were interrupted by an analyst calling his name.

"Do you have something?"

"The van pulled into a small rancher at 856 Jameson Boulevard"

"Send that address to the teams Leslie," he said praying silently that he wasn't too late.

_(Meanwhile)_

"She's bleeding out!" Diane yelled wrapping a towel around Michelle's arm. "I need something to use as a tourniquet or else she could bleed to death!"

"Michelle? Michelle can you hear me? Say something!" Lisa said holding Michelle's face.

"I won't…I...I can't" Michelle tried so hard but everything was getting dark like she had been staring into the sun and looked down, she could feel Lisa holding her hand but she sounded so far away. She felt overheated inside but her skin felt icy cold and clammy.

"Keep talking Michelle. Michelle!?"

"People I have a schedule. I am short on time… let her die and get over here! LISA!" Paul said harshly. Lisa jumped up and ran back to the desk. "Mason give me your access code or I kill Dessler once and for all along with everyone else!" He turned around "Mason?"

"Where the hell'd he go!"

Paul ran down the hallway, his two men had been taken down and the other hadn't seen anything but it was clear George had escaped. He stormed upstairs and ordered his remaining men to get Diane and Lisa into the van "they'll be hostages we need to get out of here before they find us" he declared.

"What about the other woman?"

"She's dead right?" he turned to Diane.

Diane scrambled over to Michelle to check her pulse… she was still barely alive. "She's dead" Diane lied.

"Alright leave her here we don't have time. Let's go," he said as the rushed out to the garage and got in.

_(Meanwhile)_

"They're leaving!" Leslie yelled, "They are heading south on Jamestown!"

"Pipe this into the teams, they are only 3 and a half minutes out!" Tony ordered

_(Meanwhile)_

Paul sat in the back of the van as another man drove. "Start filming," he ordered the man in front of him. "CTU, my name is Paul Russolet I have your personnel as you know by now" the camera pivoted to show Diane and Lisa gagged and tied together "I will exchange them and the other personnel for a meeting with the president's wife. She may bring one man for protection as will I at the WestLight Harbor at 1:00 if she is not there by that time or she brings anyone other than one body guard I will kill all the personnel I have in my possession." The camera stopped "Send it"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Do they have a visual on the hostel's van yet?" Tony asked impatiently.

"No, but they are getting closer" Leslie informed him.

'What if she dies?' he thought 'What if she dies and I let her go? I never gave her a chance? I'll never know what could have happened, all this time I've been afraid of her breaking my heart which is why I avoided her to keep my personal and professional lives apart, but if she dies and I never get to know if she was the one that'll hurt far worse than if she were to break my heart. It's like she has my heart and I didn't even know I gave it away.'

But I know if I could do it over  
I would trade give away all the words

_That I saved in my heart  
That I left unspoken _

What hurts the most  
Is being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was trying to do 


	6. Chapter 6 Stand

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Rascal Flatts)

Chapter 6

Ryan Chappelle walked into the building "I'm taking command fill me in-"

"We have something!" Leslie chirped

"What is it?" Tony asked hopefully.

"They are sending us a video feed," she said, as everyone gathered around to watch.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle was in a total fog, it was so hard to think, she could feel herself slipping, she had heard the van engine start up and some screeching then all the sounds around her had become too quiet for her to hear. So she laid there trying her best to focus and not let herself slip away 'I…uh I need something to focus on...Tony… try to picture him'

_(Meanwhile)_

"Where was Michelle?" Tony asked when the feed was over.

"And Kyle and George" Leslie said. Just then the phone rang. When she was done she announced, "7 hostiles and Paul Russolet were just apprehended along with Diane Kitorez and Lisa Miller."

"What about the other three?" Tony asked impatiently.

Another phone rang, Chappelle picked it up, he announced "George escaped he's on his way" he hung up.

"That leaves Kyle and Michelle..." he thought fast "Ask Diane and Lisa" he said.

Leslie picked up the other phone "what about the other two?" she turned to Tony "Dead"

Tony stopped breathing.

"Well they said Kyle's dead for sure they think Michelle is but their not sure she was shot and bleeding when they left the house" Leslie informed him.

"I'm going, the teams are at least 20 miles away from them it'll be faster if I go, I need a med team pronto lets go" he said running toward the exit.

"Hurry up Almeida and get back here" Ryan yelled.

Tony jumped into a CTU chopper with 2 field medics and they took off. As the chopper flew over the streets of LA Tony's mind was racing. It seemed like the longest helicopter ride of his life.

When they finally landed Tony sprinted into the house immediately ran up the stairs without even thinking, he slowed once he got up the stairs he checked the first room-empty, the second room- Kyle's dead body third room…

There she was in a puddle of blood on the floor, her face was almost unrecognizable because of the bruising but he knew it was her. He ran over and stroked her unbruised cheek "Michelle?"

"Michelle?" …She heard something in the distance, it sounded like him, 'keep focusing Michelle someone will be here soon' she told herself. "Michelle?" she heard it again, that wasn't her imagination she felt someone stroking her face she tried to talk "To.." she coughed "Tony" her voice was almost non existent, it was just a small croak.

Tears were forming in his eyes "Hey it's ok I'm here. Hold on I'll get you help" He carefully slid his arm under her back and under her knees and gently lifted her off the ground.

"Wh- Where-?" she tried to say.

"Shh it's ok just stay with me, we're gonna get you help" He carried her down the stairs the medics were loading Kyle into the chopper and were waiting for him, he slowly set her down on a stretcher. They loaded her into the chopper and took off, as they flew the medics worked on Michelle's arm and gave her medicine for the pain.

When they arrived at CTU the medics rushed Michelle in and Tony followed a few feet behind but had to stop when they took her into the OR, so he headed to the bullpen to inform them of the situation. He reached the bullpen and everyone turned around and began to stare at him, it was then he realized that he was completely covered in Michelle's blood. It was on his hands and arms a little on the side of his face from scratching his face, and his shirt was soaked in it from carrying her body against his.

"What the hell happened to you Almeida?" George asked

"It's not my blood…" he took a deep breath "it's Michelle's."

"So I'm assuming she's dead," Ryan said bluntly.

"She's in surgery but as you can tell it's serious, she was just barely hanging on when I showed up." He said turning toward the locker room.

"And Kyle's dead?" Leslie clarified.

"Yes… he is" Tony said before going to change.

_(Later)_

Tony was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands when he heard someone approach "Tony?"

It was Leslie "Yeah" he said tiredly.

"Michelle's boyfriend is here, he wants to see her, and he knows she's hurt seriously but doesn't know how or details or anything, Chappelle told me you could deal with him."

"And people wonder why I hate Chappelle," Tony groaned as he got up and headed toward the front entrance. He spotted a man in the waiting room. "Hi I'm Tony Almeida, are you here to see Michelle?"

"I'm Jay Pataworski," he said shaking Tony's hand, but slightly missing it.

Tony looked into his eyes, he was drunk Tony could tell, but he didn't say anything instead he lead him down the hallway towards medical. When they got there they sat in a couple chairs in the hallway. "Michelle was kidnapped this morning. She was taken along with a few other personnel. She was interrogated, I'm not completely aware of all her injuries but I know she was shot in her right arm, and looked like she had been hit in the face, other that that I'm not sure. The doctor will be here in a minute to better explain the extent of her injuries"

"She got shot?" he asked, his words were slightly slurred. Tony nodded his head. "Where?"

"Uh her right arm," he repeated.

"Oh so she can't write?" he asked

He wrinkled his eyebrow at the randomness of his question "She's right handed so… probably not," he said.

"What was your name?"

"Tony Almeida. I'm Michelle's boss," he repeated. This was getting annoying.

"Oh, …I don't like you" he said flatly.

"Oh, ok" Tony said raising his eyebrows and smiling slightly. "Can I ask why?"

"Michelle talks about you too much… says your nice, relaxed, understambling," he mumbled.

"I see," he said as the doctor walked in.

"Mr. Almeida, Mr. Pataworski" he said shaking Tony's hand and trying to shake Jay's. When he finally shook Jay's hand he shot Tony an unsure look. "Miss. Dessler has a few injuries she has a few broken ribs and swelling and bruises on her stomach. She also has some minor head trauma, she was shot in the right arm, and she has some swelling and bruising on her face."

"She got shot?" Jay asked.

Tony ignored Jay "Is she in recovery?" he asked.

"Yes she'll be out of work for a few weeks, but she should fully recover." He informed them.

"Would you like to see her Mr. Pataworski?" the doctor asked.

"She's here?" he asked

"I'll take him in" Tony told the doctor.

"Ok" the doctor said.

Tony led Jay into the room where Michelle was. "She's asleep," Jay said simply.

"She's still under anesthetics," Tony said. He couldn't take his eyes off her. She looked so fragile. Her face was really swollen and her arm was neatly bandaged.

"I'm tired" Jay stated. He turned around and walked over to the empty bed on the other side of the room. Within seconds he was asleep.

"Jerk" Tony mumbled. He pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat there watching her. Despite the swelling and paleness on her face she was still gorgeous. After about an hour she started to move. Her eyes opened a little bit. She squeezed them shut and re-opened them.

"Tony?" her voice was low and incredibly weak.

"Yeah, I'm here" he said holding her hand. "How ya feeling?"

"I'm fine"

"Yeah right" he said with a smirk "You almost died, you were shot you broke a couple ribs, and you had some minor head injuries, your far from fine." He said. "But you _**will **_be ok…

_You feel like a candle in a hurricane  
Just like a picture with a broken frame  
Alone and helpless  
Like you've lost your fight  
But you'll be alright_

_You'll be alright _

Cause when push comes to shove  
You taste what you're made of  
You might bend, till you break  
Cause its all you can take  
On your knees you look up  
Decide you've had enough  
You get mad 

_You get strong  
Wipe your hands _

_Shake it off  
then you stand, then you stand  
_

_Life's like a novel  
With the end ripped out  
The edge of a canyon  
With only one way down  
Take what you're given before its gone  
Start holding on, keep holding on _

Every time you get up  
And get back in the race  
One more small piece of you  
Starts to fall into place 

…So the truth…" he prodded "how do you really feel?"

He asked.

"The truth?" she asked. He nodded. "Like I was hit by a bus," she said with a smile.

"That's more like it!" he said with a chuckle. He turned around as he heard shift. "Oh yeah your boyfriend's here"

Michelle looked past him and squinted. "Why is he asleep?"

"He passed out, we was kinda-"

"Drunk?" she asked

"Yeah just a little" he said sarcastically.

"Did he say anything? Cause when he gets drunk he says things and-"

Tony chuckled "yeah I noticed"

"Oh no what'd he say" she said with a worried look on her face.

"No nothing, just told me he didn't like me"

"And…" she said knowing there was more.

"That was it just that he didn't like me cause you said I was _understambling_ or something"

"underst_ambli_ng?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah" he said chuckling. They both stopped when they heard jay start to move.

"Michelle?" he said opening his eyes.

"Over here" she said.

He stumbled off the bed. "Hey what happened to you?"

Tony and Michelle exchanged glances. With a wicked smile she said, "I was run over by a camel" Tony and Michelle giggled.

"That sucks, me too," he said before collapsing, Tony caught him to the best of his ability.

"Want me to take home?" Tony asked.

"Oh no you don't have to do that." She said.

"I think it's better, he'll be less disoriented, plus he can't sleep here, you know how mad the nurses get."

"Really? Thank you so much" she said, "My keys are in the top drawer of my desk. His key is the blue one. He lives on Hansen Drive, you know where that is?"

"Yeah what number?"

"731" she said "you sure?"

"Yes" he said squeezing her hand "I'll be back"

_(An hour later)_

Tony crept into Michelle's medical room she was asleep. He pulled up a chair and within minutes was asleep too.


	7. Chapter 7 I Can Love You Like That

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by All-4-One)

Chapter 7

Michelle was the first to wake. She opened her eyes slowly they were so gooey. She felt like she had been asleep forever. She looked down. Tony was next to her sitting in a chair next to her bed with his head resting on the edge of her bed, and he was sound asleep. She smiled slightly at the sight. She slowly brushed a piece of hair away from his face and rubbed his head. He started to move.

"Wh- oh, hey" he said groggily

"Hi" she said with a smile.

"How you feeling?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

"Better" she said. "Thank you so much for bringing Jay home, I'm so sorry for the way he acted"

"It's fine, I was happy to do it for you, you really needed the rest"

"Yeah, thanks… for everything" she said looking down. "You saved my life, and you didn't have to"

"I did," he said. He pulled her face up "I wanted too, and I'm glad your ok"

_They read you Cinderella  
you hoped it would come true  
that one day your prince charming would come rescue you  
you like romantic movies  
and you never will forget  
the way it felt when Romeo kissed Juliet  
and all this time that you've been waiting  
you don't have to wait no more _

I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
move heaven and earth if you were my girl  
I would give you my heart  
be all that you need  
show you you're everything that's precious to me  
if you give me a chance, I can love you like that

I never make a promise  
I don't intend to keep  
so when I say forever  
forever's what I mean  
I'm no Casanova  
but I swear this much is true,  
I'll be holding nothing back  
when it comes to you  
you dream of love that's everlasting  
well baby open up your eyes...

I can love you like that  
I would make you my world  
move heaven and earth if you were my girl  
I would give you my heart  
be all that you need  
show you you're everything that's precious to me  
if you give me a chance, I can love you like that

if you want tenderness  
I've got tenderness  
and I see through to the heart of you  
if you want a man  
who will understand  
you don't have to look very far 

_I can love you like that_

They heard a knock at the door. It was Dr. McKinnsey. "Hey Michelle! How are you feeling this morning?"

"Much better, I have a slight headache and my arm and abdomen hurt, but I feel ten times better than yesterday."

"That's wonderful, I'll have the nurse give you some more painkillers but it sounds like your having an excellent recovery so far!" he said with a smile.

"Thank you doctor," she said.

"By the way Mr. Pataworski is here to see you. Are you up for another visitor?"

"Uh, Tony?"

"It's ok, I have to get back upstairs anyway. Chappelle will be arriving any minute," he said squeezing her hand and standing up.

"Bye Tony" she said waving her good arm. "You can send Jay in doctor."

"Alright" he said nodding and heading out the door after Tony.

A few minutes later Jay walked in. He rushed over "Hey oh dear what happened!" he said worriedly.

"I was kidnapped and I got kinda beat up."

"When did this happen?"

"Yesterday"

"Why didn't they call me? I would have come," he asked.

"They did. You were here, but you were drunk so Tony took you home."

"Tony?"

"Yeah Tony Almeida" she said.

"Your boss? The nice, relaxed, understanding-"

"Understamling" she corrected with a smile.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing" she smiled.

"So what exactly happened, y'know with like your injuries?" he said sitting in the chair Tony had been sitting in.

She looked down and began talking slowly "Well I was kidnapped, they took us to this-"

"How did they kidnap you?"

"It's a long story, but that doesn't matter. They took us to this house, they asked me for one of my passwords and I refused so… the guy beat me up then shot me and-"

"Why didn't you just tell him?" he asked a little anger in his voice.

"I couldn't because then he'd have what he wanted and he could do whatever he wanted to do-"

"At least you'd be alive though!" he said

"I _am_ alive!" she said.

"I know but-" he sighed "You know what never mind, just keep telling the story" he said

"Then they left the house and-"

"They just left you there?" he asked

"They thought I was dead," she said.

"It was _that_ bad?" he said in disbelief. She stayed silent. "Ok so how'd you get out?"

"Tony brought a medical team to the house to get me" she said. He rolled his eyes.

"What?" she said defensively.

"Super boss to the rescue" he said

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said.

"How many of your bosses have ever cared that much about you?" he asked.

"Definitely not my last one" she muttered.

"Exactly, that's cause that's not their place. All these nice things he does-" he sighed, "He's not trying to be your boss… he's trying to be…."

"What a half-way decent person?" she said defensively.

"No" he said.

Just then the nurse walked in. "Here are those pain killers Miss. Dessler," she said politely.

"Thank you," she said receiving the tablets.

"Your welcome, just call if you need me" she said as she exited the room.

Michelle took the pills. "Look whatever, I'm alive it's over so let's just let it go. Alright?"

"Yeah ok" he said with his hands folded across his chest.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony was sitting at his station. He kept finding himself glancing over at her station only to remember she wasn't there. He considered ringing her room, but decided against it incase she was sleeping. Jay was still there, he knew, which was another reason he decided not to call, even though he really wanted to see how she was doing. 'So much for keeping my emotions and work separate.' He thought to himself 'Ever since they told me she was dead I completely stopped caring about that rule. It took that scare to make me realize that she stole my heart right out from under me and never even knew it. It's scary yet comforting, but mostly scary.'

It was finally 1:00 'Lunch Time' Tony thought 'I'm starving'. As he headed toward the parking garage he decided to go peek in and see how Michelle was doing. He walked up to the room and looked in the window. She was awake, and Jay wasn't there so he decided to head in.

"Hey you" He said as he walked up to her bed.

"Hey" she said with a smile.

"How ya feeling?" He asked sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Actually my abdomen is killing me," she said putting her hand on her stomach "I think it might have swelled a little" she said lifting her shirt a little to check.

Tony saw it "Oh my god, it's really swelling up" he said, "I'll call the nurse. She can clean it up and give you some painkillers"

"Okay" she said examining the injury.

A minute or two later the nurse entered the room. "Good afternoon Miss Dessler, is something wrong?"

"Yeah its my stomach" she said showing the nurse.

"Oh my" she said "I'll clean that up for you right away, and give you something for the pain and swelling."

"Thank you"

"Your welcome, I'll be right back" she said turning to leave.

"How's your arm?" Tony asked.

"Not bad." She said.

The nurse walked back in with a cart of supplies. She pulled up a stool. "Ok, I am gonna disinfect it, cleanse it, and wrap it. The disinfecting will sting and probably double the pain your in, but it will only last a minute or so."

"Ok" She said.

Tony took her hand. "Here, don't look at it. Look this way. Think of something else, it'll help the pain." Michelle concentrated on the sound of his voice as she felt the searing pain in her abdomen. "What'd you have for lunch?" he asked trying to distract her.

"I didn't," she said with her eyes closed tight in pain.

"Really? You hungry?"

"A little" she said.

"What are you hungry for?" he said.

"I don't know"

"What's your favorite food? Anything, I'll go get it. I was on my way to lunch anyway. I'll pick up anything you feel like eating." He said.

"I uh, I like Mexican food" she said squeezing her eyes shut in pain.

"Ok, like from Senior Blanco's?"

"That's my favorite," she said with a slight smile as the pain began to subside.

"Sounds great, as soon as she's done I'll go pick it up. Okay?"

"Uh huh, thank you," she said

"Anytime"

A few minutes later Tony headed out to the parking garage, and got into his car. He had an old 1997 Ford Explorer. He tried to start it and fail the first time but the second time the SUV's engine roared and he was on his way. 'This car is ready to be retired' he thought to himself as he drove down the road. He got to the restaurant and realized he hadn't asked her what she wanted. So he just bought all the basics. 'She can pick. I'll eat what she doesn't' he decided.

"$42.17" the young man chirped.

"Geez" Tony said "And this isn't even the first date" he thought with a smile.

"Thank you sir," the cashier said.

"Thanks" Tony answered as he gathered the bags and headed back to his car.

When Tony arrived back at Michelle's room she was asleep. It was 1:34. The nurse walked away and whispered, "She fell asleep a few minutes after you left, it's the medicine, she should be up soon, she was pretty hungry"

"Where's Jay?"

"He left for lunch"

"Nice" Tony said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I know what you mean" she said leaving.

Tony sat down in a chair and watched her sleep. 'He doesn't deserve her. He just left her here hungry and went to lunch.'

About 15 minutes later she began to stir. "Hey, how long have you been here?"

"Not long. Wanna eat?" he asked

"I'm starving," she said with a smile.


	8. Chapter 8 Roll to Me

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Del Amitri)

~ Chapter 8 ~

Six o'clock, his day was finally over. Tony logged off and headed towards Michelle's room he had told her he would come see her later. He headed down the hall of CTU medical. As he passed the nurse station he heard someone.

"You're becoming a regular fixture around here" Michelle's nurse commented with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess I am" he said with a smile. "How's she been?"

"Ok, she seems bored. She keeps wondering if there is any way she can go back to work early."

Tony shook his head with a slight smile "She's crazy" they both laughed "Does she have any visitors right now?"

"No, actually no one has been here since you."

"What about her parents? Brother? And Jay?"

"Her mother's deceased, and father, I don't know. Tried calling her brother and as far as Jay, I haven't seen him since before lunch."

"Ok, thanks Claire" he said heading toward her room.

She was awake and playing with her fingers when he came in. A smile appeared on her face when she saw him walk in. "Hey!" she greeted

"Hey, told ya I'd be back." He said pulling up a chair.

"Yeah so did Jay," she mumbled under her breath, but he heard it.

"Uh, so what'd you do all day?" he asked pleasantly.

"Nothing, Tony is there any way they can bring me a laptop, I'll just do some system clean-ups or organizing, or light work or something-"

"No you need to rest, you've been through a lot." He said gently.

"But sitting here thinking about it doesn't help me. I don't want to think about it, I just…" her breathing got a little heavier "I just want to do something…" her eyes were getting glassy "please anything, I just don't want to have to…"

He wrapped his arms around her. She wasn't crying but he could tell she was close, and he didn't want her to cry. "Hey, how bout you give me an hour, k? I'm gonna go home, shower, get some clothes, pick us up dinner and when I get back we'll figure something out ok?"

"Ok" she agreed.

"In the meantime I'll bring you my iPod from my car, it's got some good music and TV shows you can watch…even though they might not be your favorite I find them entertaining."

She scrunched up her face and smiled "Probably some serial-killer, Sci-Fi, weird, guy,-"

"Hey, hey, hey easy, you might be surprised." He said getting up and heading to his car to get his iPod. 'Wait till she sees I have Grey's Anatomy on my iPod. She's gonna laugh so hard.' He thought with a smile 'I'll have to thank my sister for sneaking it on there.' He remembered his sister sneaking Grey's Anatomy on to his iPod insisting that he would get bored one day, watch it, and instantly fall in love with it. 'Yeah that never happened' He had refused to watch it ever since, but had never gotten the chance to delete it.

He walked back into the room gave her the iPod and headed out before she could say anything. She sat there in the bed 'Nice iPod' she thought searching through his artists 'Del Amitri?' she listened to the song…

Look around your world pretty baby;  
Is it everything you hoped it'd be?  
The wrong guy, the wrong situation  
The right time to roll to me.

Look into your heart pretty baby;  
Is it aching with some nameless need?  
Is there something wrong and you can't put your finger on it?  
Right then, roll to me.

And I don't think I have ever seen a soul so in despair.  
So if you want to talk the night through  
Guess who will be there?

So don't try to deny it pretty baby,  
You've been down so long you can hardly see  
When the engine's stalled and it won't stop raining  
It's the right time to roll to me.

Roll to me.

She looked through his TV shows as she listened… 'Grey's Anatomy!' she thought 'He likes Grey's Anatomy?' she thought with a giggle 'I always thought that was more of a girl show. I've never gotten a chance to watch it but my friends say it's great so why not?' she started the first episode.

(Meanwhile)

Tony arrived back at his apartment. He took a quick shower and got into a cubs t-shirt and navy blue sweat pants. He packed a bag with work clothes. 'There is no way she's gonna have to sit there alone all night at CTU. Especially after she risked her life like that.' He got into his car and drove to McDonalds 'It's kinda cheap but I don't know what else she likes. This is a safe bet though; I've seen her in the break room with it. I'll order exactly what she always gets.' He thought while mentally patting himself on the back for remembering what she liked "A crispy ranch chicken sandwich medium fries and Dr. Pepper." He recited to the ordering box.

When he arrived at CTU Michelle was sitting up in her bed engrossed in whatever she was watching on his iPod. "Michelle?" no reaction so he said it a little louder "Michelle"

She looked up. "Oh sorry" she paused it and put it down.

"Got dinner, hope you're in the mood for fast food," he said holding up the bag.

"Ok" she said.

"What were you watching anyway?" he asked.

"Grey's Anatomy" He began laughing.

"Don't laugh at me you're the one who has it on your iPod" she said, "I've been meaning to give it a try, but never had the time."

"Well at least now you have something to do while your sitting here," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty good. How many seasons do you have?"

"Actually none, my sister snuck the first season on their, but don't worry I'm sure she has all of them, and I can get them for ya"

"Alright, how'd you know what I like from McDonalds?"

"I've seen you bring it to work for lunch"

"So I'm guessing your either very observant, or your stalking me" she said with a smile.

"..or a mix" he said "…So I'm guessing since your smiling that your either really crept out by that, or finding it very charming"

"..or a mix" she laughed hysterically almost choking on her sandwich as she smiled up at her new best friend.

(A few days later)

Michelle was going home and he for one was not happy about it. Tony was happy that she'd finally be able to have a few weeks of freedom and rest, but he was gonna miss having her around to talk to whenever he had a free minute. CTU wouldn't seem the same until she came back from medical leave.

Michelle was going home and she for one was not happy about it. Michelle was not happy about it one bit. Going home would mean having to spend her days with Jay, having to face her problems instead of watching TV on Tony's iPod at CTU. She was going to miss his little visits through out the day and her time with him at night. They had become best friends during the last week and a half, and she was really gonna miss him.

"Your arm needs to stay in this sling during the day, and absolutely no using it for lifting. Here are a few physical therapy objects to help get your strength back, remember take it easy, you're not gonna get better over night. The doctor wants to see you back here in two weeks for a check-up" Michelle nodded her head as Claire continued to talk. "It looks like you'll be out for six weeks before you can return to work…"

Tony was standing next to her "But you don't need to worry about work you focus on getting better" he said with a smile.

Claire smiled "Take care of yourself Michelle"

"Get well soon, we'll all miss you" Tony said giving her a warm hug. 'I love her smell' he thought 'She was here for almost two weeks straight but she still smells so good, which is a miracle' he smiled at that. They pulled apart and Tony took Michelle's bag "Ready to go?" he said.

"Yeah, are you sure you don't mind driving me home?"

"Not at all. I'll just drive you home in your car so you have it and I can just take a cab back here to get my car and go home."

"That's gonna take an hour though"

"I don't mind," he said putting her bag in the trunk and getting into the driver seat.

"Well, thank you. It's very nice of you." She said putting her seat belt on. "I was gonna ask Jay to do it, but he said he had a last minute emergency meeting for work that he had to go to. He doesn't even know I'm coming home today."

"Journalists have a last minute emergency meetings?" he said glancing at her.

She shrugged her shoulders and got quiet. "Yeah, I don't know"

He changed the subject "This is a really nice car" he commented.

"Yeah I just got it the day before what happened" she said while thinking 'This car must be good luck, I got a new best friend the day after I got it'

"What is it?"

"A Volkswagen Jetta 2006, the newest model."

"I love the color" he said "That grayish blue"

"It's actually totally blue in daylight and kinda purpleish blue in the morning light but as the sun goes down it looks navyish greyish blue, and it even looks black at night. It's so cool"

He laughed at her excitement "Like a chameleon." They both laughed "So do you want to pick up dinner on the way so you don't have to cook something, who knows how late Jay's meeting might go."

"Yeah, I wouldn't cook anyway. I like my apartment." She said with a giggle.

"Oh come on you can't be that bad" he said.

"Yes I can. I've set toast on fire."

"What? How?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you sometime" she said laughing. They talked comfortably the rest of the ride about whatever came to mind. They pulled into her parking spot at her apartment complex. "Thank you again," she said getting out of the car. "Come on in, I'll call you a cab"

"Alright" he said following her with her bags in his hand.

She unlocked her apartment and allowed him in. "You can put my bags down anywhere. Make yourself at home, I'll call for that cab."

"Ok, thanks" he said setting her bags down and taking a good look around her apartment. It was so clean, and it smelled so wonderful 'Exactly how she smells' he thought. He loved the scent. Everything looked fresh, warm, and cozy. 'Man I could eat off the floor of this place' he thought.

"They're on their way" she called from the kitchen.

"Your apartment is so clean" he commented

"I love cleaning," she said with a smile

"I can see that." He said with a chuckle.

"It's just the way I'm wired, my mom was a neat freak, and I guess from growing up in an immaculate house I just got used to it."

He nodded his head "I get it. Clean feels like home to you."

"Yeah" she said, "It does"

"I always noticed your desk was neat."

She giggled "yup"

"I like things clean too, they don't have to be, but it's nice when they are."

"Then we'll get along just fine," They both laughed.

"So the doctor said you need help with things around the house, is Jay gonna take care of that?"

"Maybe" she said looking at the floor.

"Ok, well if you need anything" he said lifting her chin with his finger "You know my number. I don't care what time it is, or how stupid the task is, I'll be here."

"Thanks, that means a lot to me." She said with a weak smile.

They heard a beep outside "Any time" he said as he walked out the door.

She smiled. After he was out the door she walked to her room. She got changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. She turned around and looked at her bed. The sheets were all messed up. 'I made that bed before I left.' she remembered 'I guess Jay was in it' she thought walking towards it but stopping dead in her tracks 'What if he wasn't alone? What if Danny was right?' she felt sick 'No. No I'm just being stupid' she thought taking another step toward the bed. 'I feel like sleeping on the couch' she decided turning around and leaving her room. She headed into the living room; she opened the chest next to the couch and took out a throw blanket and a pillow. 'Good thing I washed this stuff' She threw the blankets over her. They smelled fresh. She fell asleep a short while after her head hit the pillow. As she slept she heard distant voices.

"This is a nice apartment," a woman said "Oops my coffee!" She exclaimed as she dropped her coffee onto the spotless carpet. "I am so sorry. I totally screwed up your rug, it was perfect"

"Yeah I like things clean" a familiar male voice said. The woman tried to help but Jay said, "Allow me, it's no big deal"

The woman looked around as Jay cleaned the mess "Does she live here with you?" the woman said in a disgusted voice.

"She is in the hospital right now, prince charming is taking care of her. So neither you nor I need to worry about her," he said seductively.

"If she's in the hospital, than who's that?" a woman said. Michelle half-opened her eyes to see a black haired, young, skanky-looking, woman pointing at her. Jay turned around.

"Michelle!" he said with a look of surprise. "I thought you were still at the hospital"

Michelle was still for the most part asleep, she spoke in a weak airy whisper "I was released, I tried to call you."

"Oh well, uh, I guess I should introduce you to my uh new boss Cindy Smith" he said. Both women gave him unsure looks.

"Nice to meet you" the woman said.

Michelle stayed silent and unmoving still half-sleep. Jay took a step forward to her "Look honey your tired just go back to sleep, I'll explain in the morning. We're just gonna go discuss my new job in the office. Wish me luck!" he said leading the woman down the hallway. Michelle laid back down as she was told, and was back completely asleep in seconds.

Jay and the woman entered the bedroom. "What are we doing!" she hissed.

"Picking up where we left off" he said.

"Your girlfriend is in the other room!"

"She's asleep"

"Why didn't she say something, what does she not care or something?" Cindy asked

"She wasn't awake. I could tell by her eyes and her reaction when I told her you were my boss. She talks in her sleep all the time. If she had been awake she would have saw right through that, she's a federal agent, she'd be interrogating me right now. She probably won't even remember this tomorrow morning. Sometimes she half-wakes up, she'll talk and stuff sometimes but she's not really awake." He assured.

"Whatever you say," she said pushing him onto the bed with a seductive smile.

Hope your enjoying the story! Don't forget to review! :)


	9. Chapter 9 Face Down

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus)

Chapter 9

As Tony awoke he thought about a dream he had during the night. He dreamt that he was at CTU. _"Can I have the file please?" he had asked her_

"_No, I …I can't give it to you" she had said sadly_

"_Please Michelle I want it so badly" he had pleaded_

"_I'm so sorry I really want to give it to you, but technically it belongs to someone else, even though they don't deserve it." She said looking at the floor._

"_Your exactly right. He doesn't deserve it so why can't you give it to me. You know I'd take better care of it," he told her knowing she agreed._

"_There is nothing I want more than to give this to you, but it would be wrong of me to give it to you, it would be unfair to him" she said reluctantly._

"_Please Michelle…." He pled as he fell to his knees._

"_I wish I could…." She said with tears in her eyes. "You would make me so happy, please don't give up on me"_

"_I couldn't-"_

He had awoken at this point. 'File?' he thought. He thought about his dream for the next ten minutes in his bed until his alarm went off and he reluctantly got out of bed and began to get ready for work.

_(Meanwhile)_

As Michelle awoke she thought about a dream she had during the night. She pictured Jay bringing in a black haired, young, woman with a huge chest and really tight pants on that went with the nearly non-existent shirt that she was wearing under her coat. Next thing she saw was a cup of coffee with the bright pink lipstick the woman had been wearing falling toward the floor, it was in slow motion it fell for a minute or so before crashing onto the floor leaving a stain that seemed to be in the shape of a broken heart. Jay immediately began trying to cover it up. As Michelle went to shake the woman's hand her clothes turned into a business suit. Her nametag read 'Cindy Smith' with 'the new one' written beneath her name. They headed down the hallway and the dream faded. 'It felt so real' Michelle thought as she laid on the couch thinking about the dream. 'The new one?' she thought.

She rose to her feet and headed toward her bedroom. The bed was empty and made just they way she always made it. "That wasn't made last-" she stopped dead in her tracks and headed back down the hall to the entryway. Her heart stopped 'The stain' she thought. It was extremely faint, most people wouldn't notice it but she did. She knelt down and ran her fingers over it. As she did she felt her eyes fill 'God I hope I'm wrong about this'

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony arrived at CTU to a very unpleasant surprise. Ryan Chappelle. "Good morning Almeida you're 13 minutes late" he said in a dry voice.

"Good morning Ryan" he said.

"George is out today, he had to attend a district meeting which means you're even more short-handed than normal."

"I think we'll manage" Tony assured him.

"You will because I will be here today," he said, but before Tony could argue he started again "I also brought a replacement for Michelle Dessler"

"A replacement?" Tony said, the surprise and displeasure evident in his voice.

"Temporary replacement until she returns from her leave." Ryan said. Just then a woman with bronze skin and wavy hair walked up behind him. "Ah here she is now." He said indicating to the woman next to him. "This is Carrie Turner, she'll be your IPM for the next 2 months"

"Six weeks" Tony corrected

"Right"

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle sat impatiently on her couch listening to the ringing in the phone. "Hello?" she heard.

"Jay?" she said carefully.

"Yeah?"

"Hi it's Michelle"

"Oh, good morning Michelle" he said unsurely. "How'd you sleep honey?"

'Since when is he this nice? And why does he care how I slept? …Wait don't judge him maybe your wrong, maybe this is all a big misunderstanding' "Um ok, I was just wondering if you slept over last night"

"Why?"

"I don't know it's just that… the bed was made and-"

"Honey you made it before you left" he said quickly "Don't you remember? You always make the bed."

"Yeah it's just that when I came in from the hospital last night I could swear the sheets were all messed up and-"

"You were tired honey, sometimes when you're tired your eyes play tricks on you"

"I know but-"

"Plus you were on some pretty strong medications"

"Yeah I guess. It's just that-"

"What?"

"I noticed a stain on the rug that I had never seen before"

He was silent for a second "Oh yeah! That! That happened last week while you were in the hospital I spilled some uh"

"Coffee?"

"Yeah, sorry I can't think straight I'm really busy...at work"

"Ok, if you're busy I guess I'll call back later" she said

"Ok honey, love you"

"Bye" she said hanging up the phone. 'He's lying and it's so obvious' she thought to herself. 'What am I supposed to do?'

_(Meanwhile)_

"So this is the station you'll be working at." He said pointing to a small desk with a single monitor in the corner. Carrie Turner gave him a slightly disgusted look.

"I'm sorry but isn't this a visitor desk?" she asked.

"Yes it is. You're a visitor," he said.

"Actually I am a temporary replacement, which means I assume all duties and privileges of the employee I am temporarily replacing," she explained

"Yeah and?" he asked.

"Shouldn't I be at that desk?" she said pointing to the bigger desk in the left center of the bullpen surrounded by plasma-screen monitors, with multiple desktop computers, and laptops.

"That's Michelle's desk," he said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Isn't she the one I'm replacing?"

"What's going on?" Ryan said.

"I was just wondering why I couldn't use the IPM desk," Carrie said trying to sound innocent.

"Why can't you?"

"Tony says I can't use it because it's Michelle's desk."

"That's the point Almeida. Now show Carrie to the internet protocol management desk" Ryan said as he walked up to George's office.

"You know where _her _station is," he said coldly heading back to his own station.

_(Later that day)_

Michelle was pacing. Up and down the hallway and living room of her apartment. She was also talking to herself "He's obviously lying. I can tell so easily it's stupid. He is the one who accused me of being unfaithful, while he's going off and…" she started to cry as she paced "I can't…he used to be so great… he was so funny and he was always so pleasant… he always seemed to be in a good mood no matter how bad things got, but then what happened with his parents… it wasn't his fault, but ever since…I felt him drifting away and I let him go…. It's my fault, I didn't try hard enough… now he's off with…" she was becoming more hysterical by the second "Just like Danny… it's all my fault and-" she heard the phone ring. 'It's CTU' she thought 'what if they need me?' she picked up the phone. "Hello?" she said 'I sound terrible' she thought.

"Michelle?" she had tried to sound like she was ok but hearing his gentle voice sent that all out the window.

She began to breathe hard "Tony?"

"What's wrong?" he said sounding seriously worried.

"He's… I think he's, it's my fault" she couldn't even get out a coherent thought.

"Who? Jay? What did he do?" Tony asked frantically.

At that everything came rushing at her. Her boyfriend who she had trusted so deeply and thought she might love had been cheating on her all along. He never really cared about her; he hurt her- in so many ways. The drinking, the yelling, the cheating…he didn't care about her. He had never loved her, he had lied to her. She trusted him and he stabbed her in the back; her heart ached. All of these realizations, it wasn't the alcohol, it was him, he wanted to hurt me, he meant what he said. These realizations that were rushing at her so fast made her dizzy. "Tony, I …need…to...breath" her whole body was shaking as she took sharp deep breaths.

"Ok, ok listen to my voice Chelle" she listened. "Breathe with me okay"

"Uh…huh"

"Ok don't try to talk, steady, even, breaths." He breathed loud so she could hear and follow along. After about 3 breaths he talked again. "Good job, now close your eyes, and relax." He kept breathing with her until her breaths became more normal "Your doing a great job Chelle. Are you sitting down on the couch?"

"Yeah" she said in a whisper.

"Ok just lay down and close your eyes. Keep breathing with me." They breathed for a minute or two. "Are you falling asleep?"

"Uh huh" she said groggily

"Ok I want you to put your thumb on the 'end call' button, and as soon as you feel yourself drifting off push that button. You don't have to speak, just hit that button, but in the meantime keep breathing with me."

"Okay" she whispered. It only took her another three minutes before Tony heard his phone beep letting him know that she had fallen asleep. His eyes were full of tears, but he refused to let them go. It killed him to know that she was in pain; he knew Michelle had really trusted Jay. She told him that Jay used to be a wonderful man, but he had changed, she hadn't really given much detail but Tony could tell she had really had faith in him. He wasn't going to let her be in pain. His shift ended in 25 minutes. It was a slow day so he decided to call Jay and see what was going on. He looked up his number and dialed it.

"Hello?" he heard a slightly drunk voice on the other end of the line.

"Hi, Jay?"

"That's my name don't wear it out." Jay said giving the guy next to him a high five.

"Uh, yeah well this is Tony Almeida"

"Hey everyone! Guess who I got on the phone?" Tony heard Jay yell to the people around him "Prince freaking charming!"

Tony heard a round of drunken laughter. "This isn't a joke. What happened to Michelle?"

"Freaking coffee stain on the rug, and she flips out, what can I say? She's crazy!" he said with a loud laugh.

"What? What are you talking about? I called her apartment and she was hysterically crying, about something you did."

"What! What did she tell you?"

"She couldn't even talk" Tony said getting really ticked off.

"Freakin' tattle to prince charming eh? I'll show her," he mumbled.

"What?" Tony had not heard the last part of what he'd said.

"Bye" Jay said hanging up and heading for the door.

_(15 minutes later)_

Jay flung the door open "Michelle!" he bellowed.

Michelle jumped. "Huh? Jay?" She sat up from where she had just been sleeping.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"What?"

"Going and telling freaking prince charming about your little problems thinking he'll come and-"

"Prince charming?" Michelle said rubbing her eyes. "Are you drunk?"

"Oh now you make it about me?!" he yelled

She stood up "it was just a question"

"Everything's my problem! My fault! And he's so much better!" he said taking a step toward her. "Jay's a drunk who has no job and just lays around all day, but on the other hand prince freaking charming is a federal agent who saves the world!"

"But-"

"Jay's so angry and selfish! Yet Tony takes care of you when you're in the hospital, and dotes on you like his princess!"

"I never said that-"

"Jay's getting fatter every day and never shaves or showers, but he's so hot and smells good"

"What? I don't care about-"

He grabbed her wrists that had been loosely hanging at her side "Yeah right! YEAH RIGHT! You think I don't notice!!!" He put his face close to hers and held onto her wrists tight to disable her "So if your ever wondering why! That's why I cheated on you!! Several times by the way!! That's why I _am_ cheating on you!!" he pushed her so hard she flew across the room and hit the wall. Her small figure slumped to the floor.

_Hey girl you know you drive me crazy.  
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.  
Still I'll never understand why you hang around  
I see what's going down.  
Cover-up with make-up in the mirror  
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again  
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you. _

Do you feel like a man  
when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well I'll tell you my friend one day this world's going to end  
As your lies crumble down a new life she has found.  
  
_A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect  
Every action in this world will bear a consequence  
If you wade around forever you will surely drown  
I see what's going down.  
I see the way you go and say you're right again,  
say you're right again,  
heed my lecture _

Do you feel like a man  
When you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well I'll tell you my friend one day this worlds going to end  
as your lies crumble down a new life she has found.

Face down in the dirt she said, 

_This doesn't hurt she said,_

_I've finally had enough!_

_  
One day she will tell you that she has had enough  
it's coming round again._

"Enjoy your prince charming and your freaking _coffee stain_! Cause I never wanna see you again!" He said as he threw one of her vases at the stain and walked out the door.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony got into his SUV and began driving to Michelle's house. He just wanted to make sure she was ok. He pulled up and parked about 10 minutes later. He went up to her floor only to see that her apartment door was wide open. He stuck his head in "Michelle?"

He walked in looking down he saw the broken vase and immediately the agent in him kicked in. He put his back to the wall and peered into the living room. He saw her slumped in the corner on the floor she was staring blankly at the opposite wall, tears were streaming down her face. He hurried over to her. It was only then that she realized his presence. "Tony?"

"Yeah I'm here," he said taking her hand. "What happened?"

"Jay" she said simply "He dumped me"

"Oh" he said, he couldn't say he was sorry.

"It was my fault," she said.

"I doubt that" he said.

"It really was, I deserved everything I got."

"Wh-What do you mean?" he said beginning to get seriously worried. "Did he hurt you?"

"I deserved it," she said

"He hurt you!" Tony said getting angry.

She suddenly looked up at him "No more yelling please, no more," she pleaded starting to cry again.

He immediately stopped "Oh, no, I'm sorry, no more yelling I promise," he said squeezing her hand reassuringly. "What did he do? You can tell me I won't yell I promise"

"Push me," she said in a small voice.

"Where were you when he pushed you?" he said rubbing her hand soothingly.

"In front of the couch" she pointed with her other hand.

'God that's like six feet' he thought imagining it. "He shouldn't have done that," Tony said in a gentle whisper.

"It hurt" she said, bringing a fresh wave of tears. But when she started crying she felt sharp pains in her abdomen. "Oh… ah… my… ow…" she said placing her hand on her stomach, her sore ribs were killing her. Struggling not to cry from the pain because her crying was what was causing the pains in her abdomen.

"Is your stomach sore?" he asked. She nodded her head. "Ok listen to me. Breath with me again" They breathed together for a minute or two and she calmed down, and as her crying slowed and her breath evened the pains in her abdomen slowly subsided.

"Thank you" she said as a tear escaped her eye.

He brushed it away. "Anytime." He helped her over to the couch.

"I'm really glad I have a friend like you," she said with a smile as she attempted to compose herself.

"I like being your friend" he said softly.

"Really? You can honestly tell me you enjoy this?"

"I don't enjoy seeing you in pain, that part kills me, but that smile you had on your face just a second ago makes it all worth it." She smiled again and blushed "There it is again" he said with a smile of his own.

At this time there were a few things Tony wanted to do more than anything. A) First and foremost he wanted to kill Jay… plain and simple… kill him. He had never deserved Michelle; she was way out of his league. Michelle would've defended herself today if it hadn't been for the fact that she was seriously compromised by her injuries Tony wished he could've been there to protect her and he promised himself that next time he would. B) He just wanted to hold Michelle in his arms and take all her pain away. To kiss her, which he had never done, to tell her how much he cared for her, but he couldn't. She was going through way too much, it wouldn't be fair to her, she was way too vulnerable right now, and she needed a friend right now. Michelle was definitely glad to have Tony as her best friend.


	10. Chapter 10 Pieces

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Rascal Flatts)

Chapter 10

As the sunlight peered through the living room curtains onto Michelle's face she felt herself begin to wake. She had been sleeping on the couch for about a week now, and was starting to get used to it. She couldn't bring herself to touch her own bed after finding out what had gone on in it. Michelle opened her eyes. She pulled herself up and headed toward the kitchen. She noticed something on the table and headed over to it. It was a brown paper bag with a note…

"_Good Morning!_

_By the time you read this note it will probably be 10:30..."_

Michelle looked at the clock on her stove '10:38'

…_so I got you a bagel. The cream cheese is in your fridge along with some orange juice. Good thing for that key under the mat, otherwise you'd probably starve! Enjoy your breakfast! _

_Tony"_

She smiled. It was nice to have someone who cared enough about her to get up early and bring her over some breakfast. It had been three days since she had seen Jay, and she hadn't missed him. She worried about him, but didn't miss him.

_Flashback (Two nights ago)_

_Michelle was sitting on her couch as she heard her stomach growl. As if on queue her doorbell rang. She opened the door. "Tony?"_

"_Ok so I admit it… it's not exactly fine dining, but I brought some dinner."_

_She smiled "Chinese food?" she wrinkled her nose. He looked at her hopefully. "My favorite."_

_Flashback_

_(A few hours later)_

Tony was bored, utterly bored. George's weekly briefings were so dull. Tony already knew most of the stuff the staffers were saying so instead of paying attention Tony occupied his self by thumb-wrestling his self.

"- Isn't that right Agent Almeida?" George said towards the end of the meeting.

"Yes the new protocols were originally scheduled to be in effect last Wednesday, but due to the fact that our temporary IPM isn't familiar with the CTU subsystem the way our real IPM is, this process has been held up, but the new protocols are expected to take effect by the end of the week." He said, not taking his eyes off his hands, under the table.

George smiled "And I thought he wasn't paying attention"

"I wasn't" Tony said continuing his thumb-wrestling match.

"Gotta love that enthusiasm," George said. "Alright, that's all people, it's 12:30 go to lunch" The people of the meeting poured out of the conference room. Tony headed straight to his station and dialed Michelle.

"Dessler"

"Hey it's me," he said and Michelle knew exactly who 'me' was.

"How's work?" she asked casually.

"Another boring meeting with George." He groaned.

"You get called on for anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it was no big deal. The temp IPM is going really slow on initiating the new protocols."

"That sounds bad, if they are neglected too long CTU will become vulnerable." She said with a little worry in her voice.

"Tony?" Tony heard a voice behind him.

It was Carrie "Yeah?" he said slightly annoyed.

"I need to ask you something when you're done" she said indicating to the phone in his hand.

"Hey, you there?" he said into the phone.

"Yeah, who's that? That voice sounds familiar." She said

"That's the temporary IPM," he said.

"Oh" she said trying to think of who it was.

"I'll call you later, okay?" he said softly.

"Yeah"

"Bye" he said.

"Bye" she answered.

"What is it Carrie?" he asked.

"Me and a few others are going out to lunch at Troy Maker's," she said "Wanna go?"

"Nah that's ok"

"Fine" Carrie turned around and walked toward Leslie's desk.

"Is he coming?" she asked

"No"

"Alright that means he and George will be the only one's here."

"Too bad" Carrie said with a wicked smile. She had a plan. 15 minutes later Carrie was in the tech room waiting for her phone to ring. It rang just a minute later "Turner"

"Hey Carrie are you coming he got the table it'll be ready soon"

"Sorry I'm having car trouble, I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it."

"Oh I'm sorry. This was your idea and you can't even come. Want me to call you a cab?" Leslie offered.

"Nah that's ok. It's fine really" Carrie assured her.

"Ok, see you after lunch" Leslie said

"Bye" Carrie hung up the phone. 'Perfect' she thought as she headed to the break room to get the sandwich she had brought.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle was hungry. It was just about time for lunch. She checked the refrigerator for something. She decided on a sandwich. 'Nice and easy' she thought as she made her peanut butter and jelly sandwich while singing to one of her favorite songs on the radio. 'Dancing hurts right now, but I can sing all I want' she thought with a smile as the song played. The past few days had been so great, Tony was taking good care of her, and she felt free as she smiled and swayed back and forth singing. She heard the doorbell. She put down her sandwich and headed for the door still humming the tune on the radio with a smile, but when she opened the door that smile disappeared.

"Hey I came to apologize" It was Jay; apparently sober.

"Jay I don't think-"

"Please, I _am_ sorry" Michelle stood and thought for a second. She had worried about him, but these past few days had felt so good, she had felt like a humungous weight had been lifted off her shoulder. As she thought she could hear the radio in the kitchen…

From the moment that we met  
my world was turned around  
Upside down  
To some degree I still regret  
my memory for keeping you around

_I thought that you were mine  
But my broken hearts been shattered  
One too many times_

_  
And I don't want to see you anymore  
I'm just not that strong  
I love it when you're here,  
But I'm better when you're gone  
I'm certain that I've given and oh how you can take  
There's no use in you looking  
There's nothing left for you to break_

_  
Baby please release me  
Let my heart rest in pieces_

"Michelle?" he said.

"I'm sorry Jay," she said starting to close the door.

"Wait, you have to listen-"

"No! Actually I don't!" Michelle said starting to get angry, trying again to shut the door but he put his foot in the way to block it.

"You don't get it," he said

"No! You don't get it! Jay I don't know what happened, it used to be so good, but lately you've been treating me like crap. I'm in the hospital and you show up drunk and pass out in the next bed. As I'm in recovery you barely visit because you're too busy, and I come home on medical release to find out you're cheating on me! Then … look after yesterday… I can't handle this anymore, and I _really am_ sorry." She said catching him off guard and slamming the door shut.

She heard him shout her name from the other side, she dead-bolted the door and put her back up against, and as he yelled she felt herself sink to the floor as her emotions overtook her.

_(Meanwhile)_

Carrie watched closely as Tony walked through the door of the break room. 'He's so hot, so sexy, and sooo soon-to-be-mine' she thought with a wicked smile as she put on a depressed, lonely look on her face. "Hey Tony" she sighed.

He turned around, he hadn't noticed her before, his thoughts had been elsewhere. "What are you doing here I thought you were going out to lunch with everyone else?"

"I changed my mind." She said looking down at her sandwich.

"Why? Wasn't it your idea?" he said heading to the counter to get his lunch.

"Yeah, but you weren't going and-" she stumbled purposefully over her words, quickly glancing up to see his reaction.

"So?" he said putting his coffee in the microwave.

"Well I was really hoping you would so I would get a chance to tell you how sorry I am for those late protocols." She looked up with a dramatically apologetic look.

"It's fine." He said not even looking at her.

She got up and walked over to him. She stood next to him and watched him prepare his lunch, standing a little too close for his comfort, but just enough for her. "I want us to be friends Tony, I've noticed you don't really like me much ever since I got here and I just wanna show you that I am as good as any other IPM you've had. Just give me a chance."

'Good Luck' he thought. "Just get those protocols in by the end of the week and I'll be happy" he said turning to face her.

"All I wanna do is make you happy" she said putting her face closer to his.

Just then Leslie walked in "Carrie?"

"Yes?" Carrie turned to her as Tony left the room and headed to his station.

"They said it would be about 15 minutes until the table was ready so I came to pick you up so you can join us." She said.

'Damn annoying kind-person' she thought. "Oh I'm sorry, I actually just finished eating, and I have some phone calls to make, but thank you so much for thinking of me. It means a lot." She said trying to be nice while in reality right now all she wanted to do was shove this girls car keys down her throat.

"Oh ok" she said a little disappointed. She walked a little further into the room. "So uh… you and Tony?"

Carrie instinctively smiled at this "What did it look like?"

"It looked pretty good from where I was standing, so sorry I interrupted," she said with a smile.

'You're not the only one' she thought trying to keep her facial expression neutral "That's fine, we'll _catch up_ later I'm sure."

Leslie giggled "Your bad"

"I try," she said with a wicked smile.

"Anyway I'll let you get to your phone calls!" Leslie chirped as she started to leave.

"Ok bye thank you," she said. "…You annoying bitch" she muttered once the door had completely shut. She shook her head and picked up her phone. She had one very important phone call to make.

"Hello?" said a groggy-sounding Danny.

"Danny?"

"Yes?" he said.

"Look I don't have much time, but lately things between you and me-"

"Yeah I know and I promise I'll-" he said sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"No Danny no more promises. I'm done." He started trying to talk to her but she talked over him "That's it Danny, don't call don't try and find me, that's it, we're through, I have other plans." She hung up. 'He was fun for a while, but Tony will give in to me and when he does I'm going to be free. That's the last time I'll have to hear Danny's sad-ass voice. Thank God' she thought. But little did she know that she would talk to him again, and it would not be pleasant.

_(Meanwhile)_

It was 10 minutes later when Jay had finally given up calling Michelle. "Whatever Michelle, I'm leaving, I don't care anymore. See ya never."

His words stung, but as she heard his footsteps get further and further she felt better, she started to feel her breathing ease. She stood and headed back toward the kitchen and her peanut butter and jelly. Just as she sat down the phone rang. She picked it up and put it on speakerphone. "Dessler"

"You know you don't have to do that at home." He said in a joking voice.

"Yeah well I'm trying to build a habit," she said knowing immediately it was Tony from the first word he said, and ever since that first word her mood had been lifted.

"Soon you'll be doing it without even thinking it, trust me, it gets annoying and people _will _ask questions." She giggled at this. "I'm sorry I had to cut it short before. The new IPM's a major league suck-up," he complained.

"Really?"

"Yeah, asked me to lunch, she's Miss 'I'll do whatever you want'" Tony said in a funny feminine voice.

Michelle giggled "She good at what she does?"

"You mean sucking up or doing IPM work, cause she's definitely got the 'sucking-up to superiors' thing down pat"

Michelle laughed even harder. "No, I meant IPM work" she smiled.

"Not really" he said, "She actually sucks a little." Michelle laughed harder at this. "No really I'm not even kidding" he looked around to double check no one was around. "It's pretty frustrating, she's so much slower than you, she can't seem to get the hang of how our sub-system net is set-up" he heard her laughing slow. "…So what's up with you today?"

"Nothing really" she said. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds. "Jay stopped over."

Tony flinched inwardly and shut his eyes preparing for the worst. "Yeah…. and?"

"He came to apologize, but… I couldn't handle it, so I turned him away, I told him he wasn't treating me the way he should have so I … sent him away" she said with a weak voice that sounded the slightest bit unsure, but after she said it she felt better and a small proud smile formed on her lips.

"You ok?" he asked opening his eyes.

"Actually I feel much better." She said taking a deep breath her tone lightening as she let out a nervous laugh.

"Good for you" he said with a smile. "You deserve a little happiness"

"And thank _you_ for it"

"Hey you conquered this one your own" he said leaning back in his chair.

"Couldn't have done it without you picking me up every time I fell" she admitted looking at her feet.

"No problem" he said with a smile.

"Alright well I'll let you get back to work" she lifted her head.

"Oh gee thanks," he said sarcastically.

She giggled "Bye"

"Bye"


	11. Chapter 11 No Reins

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Rascal Flatts)

Chapter 11

The sun was rising and as Michelle watched it she felt so great. Today was Friday and Monday she gets to go back to work. She was sitting on the beach. The orange shimmer of sunlight coming over the water reminded her a lot of Tony. She wasn't sure why, but all she knew was ever since she let Jay go she had felt ten times better. As she watched the rising sun she listened to the cascading waves coming ashore. Michelle had always found the sound of crashing waves soothing. As she sat in cool morning sand she squished her toes in the sand and thought about her life the past two weeks. One particular flashback came to mind from last week.

_Flashback_

"_The cubs? I don't know Tony, I heard the Cubs stink!" she said giggling_

_Tony's jaw dropped in mock-hurt "Ok that's it! I withdraw my invitation," he said turning away from her and crossing his arms like a pouting child._

"_Aww I'm sorry do you _like_ the Cubs or something?" …She knew he did. _

"_No Michelle, don't even try to soothe my wounded soul. Michelle you've hurt me in ways I just cannot bear to describe" he said dramatically._

"_Your soul? Geez by the way you're talking I'd say you're obsessed with them."_

"_Hurtful! So hurtful!" he turned around._

"_Tony…"_

"_Ok so I like them a little..."_

"_Tony…"_

"_Alright a lot!... So wanna come?"_

"_I'd love to" she said with a smile._

"That is…if… I can find it my heart to forgive you for that awful thing you said." He said purposefully leaving her hanging.

"_It _was_ pretty horrible huh?" she said mock-understandingly._

"_I thought so" he said "Plus I'm doing this for your own good cause if you say something like that at the game my friends might kill you."_

"_It's a good thing you warned me!" she said sarcastically._

"_Alright so we're all meeting at my house at 5 tomorrow, I'll come pick you up after they all get there."_

"_Won't that make us late? I don't want to get in the way."_

"_We'll be fine, plus what else are we gonna do? You can't drive with your arm." She shook her head "when are you getting the sling off?"_

"_The doctor says I have to keep it for one more week" she said rolling her eyes._

_End Flashback_

She looked up to the sky; the sun had gotten a considerable amount higher. She found it amazing how fast night turned to day both in the morning and in her life.

_Flashback_

_The doorbell rang. Michelle hurried over to answer it. "Hey," Tony said "Ready to go?"_

"_Yeah just a sec" she said grabbing her purse with her good arm. "This sling is so annoying" she muttered_

_He laughed "Relax" They locked the door and headed to his car. She got in the front seat. 3 of Tony's friends were in the back. Tony helped her into the SUV, and ran around to his side._

"_Hello" Michelle greeted the men._

"_Hi" they all said in unison._

_Tony got in the car. "Guys this is Michelle"_

"_Your girlfriend right?" the guy on the left said._

"_No she's just a really good friend of mine."_

"_Oh" the man said. This was followed by a long silence._

"_Awkward silence" The guy in the middle whispered and everyone laughed._

"_Ok anyway, going in order from right to left this is Jonathan, Kevin, and Pete"_

"_Hi I'm Michelle," she said reaching back with her good hand._

_That turned out to be hands-down the best baseball game Michelle had ever been to._

_End Flashback_

She smiled at the memories. The sun was fully over the horizon now. Michelle was starting to feel hungry so she decided to call a cab to take her home. 'At least I get this stupid sling off today' she thought 'At least I hope'.

_(Meanwhile)_

As Tony was driving he noticed the beautiful sunrise. Its beauty reminded him of Michelle. It was just simply gorgeous, no photo-shop editing needed. It was pure natural beauty.

_(30 minutes later)_

Michelle arrived home to find a big blueberry muffin on the table with a note beside it.

_Good Morning!_

_I missed ya this morning, now I am going to work with a frowny face that looks like this : (, and I am gonna have a terrible day. You should feel terrible, in fact the guilt should be killing you __right __now so much that you feel the need to call me right away…._

…_.just kidding. I'll start over…._

_I missed you this morning! My guess is you went out, or are out to the beach, hope you took a cab cause the doctor says no driving : ) and it would be very naughty not to follow the doctor's orders even though they may seem stupid. I know if it were up to you you'd have been back to work and operating 'heavy machinery' the next day so it's a good thing we have doctors…don't you think?… you're probably so excited! Today you might get your sling off! I'm hoping you do! Have a great day! _

_Tony : )_

Michelle giggled. These morning notes were becoming her favorite part of her morning routine. He was right she did want to drive, so badly, the taxis were costing a lot of money...but that was her fault. Tony had offered her a CTU escort if she ever needed one, but she had never called for it.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Hey Tony" Carrie said casually as she walked up to Tony's station.

"Can I help you Carrie?" he said focusing back on the paperwork in front of him.

"I just wanted to see how your morning was going." She said.

"Just a normal morning Carrie" he said with his focus still on the paperwork. After a minute or so he lifted his head "But today will be a good day."

"Why what's happening today?" she said glancing over at his calendar. She walked over to read the note for that day. She read "September twentieth….Michelle gets her sling off…12:00…?"

"You should really mind your business Carrie."

"Why do you care about Michelle's sling?" she asked jealously.

"Because she is a co-worker of mine, and I am her supervisor, therefore I am responsible for keeping track of her so I can keep George updated on when she is coming back." He paused "…and last time I checked I don't answer to you."

_(A couple hours later)_

By 11:30 Michelle was ready to leave. She grabbed her purse with her good arm and headed out to her cab. It was cab 566 her favorite cab. As she climbed into the cab she heard a familiar voice. "Oh no not you again" the man said with a laugh.

"Hey Jeff" she said, picking up on the sarcasm and smiling.

"Good Morning Ms Dessler, how are you doing today?"

"Great thank you. Today's the big day."

"What do you mean?" He asked glancing over his shoulder. "You're finally getting married?"

"No, I'm getting this thing off" she said indicating to the sling.

"Aw man, that's gonna hurt my business" he smiled.

Michelle laughed "Yeah, but don't worry whenever I drink you'll be the first one I think of."

"Most people don't think that clearly when they're hammered, that's generally why they don't drive."

She giggled "Yeah well, how about this whenever I decide to go out drinking I'll write your number on my hand before I start to remind me."

"You can call me before you go"

"We'll see," she said. A few minutes later they pulled up to CTU. Michelle paid Jeff and gave him a bonus as she thanked him. He had been there to drive her around whenever she needed a ride while Tony was in work. He was definitely the nicest cab driver she had ever met.

Michelle walked up to the security station to meet a guard. "Michelle Dessler" she stated to him showing him her card.

"Alright, go ahead" he buzzed her through into the building. She walked through the entrance way and headed straight towards the bullpen which was on the way to the clinic. As she walked through the bullpen she caught a couple people's attention. "Michelle!" she heard Lisa who had been helping one of the analysts with a server problem called as she ran over. She hugged Michelle cautiously. "It's so great to see you! I haven't really seen you since…." She trailed off.

"Yeah" Michelle said with a small nervous smile.

"The first couple days of your recovery they only let certain people in and I got sent out on assignment follow-up on that cell so…wow…you look great…it's just so hard to believe your actually…" Michelle watched Lisa as she started to lose it, Michelle also noticed they now had an audience. "It's so amazing to see you here walking around, smiling, talking…" her eyes began to water "…Michelle you were…you were basically dead on the floor in a _puddle_…I never got a chance to see you so it never sunk in that you were alive but now you're here and-"

"I'm so sorry" Michelle said hugging her, to hide her tears as she cried into Michelle's shoulder.

"Somewhere in my mind I knew you were alive but, seeing you being beaten and laying on the floor… god, there was blood everywhere…and he just left you there…to die…"

"Here come with me," she said leading Lisa toward the bathroom. Michelle noticed as they walked all eyes were on her. Once they were inside the bathroom Michelle spoke again. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said wiping her face. "I'm sorry, I'm fine. I just kinda lost it there."

"It's okay," she said with a smile hugging Lisa again. "You alright now?"

"Yeah, I'm good"

"Okay see ya later" she said with a smile as she headed toward the clinic.

"Hey Michelle" Doctor McKinnsey greeted as Michelle walked into the clinic.

"Hi"

"How have you been feeling since our last appointment?"

"Great, can I get my sling off?"

"Have you had _any _pains at all?"

"No"

"Honestly?"

"No pains, really"

(20 minutes later)

"Alright, I'm gonna let you stop using the sling, but on one condition" he stated "You take it easy on that arm, no heavy lifting, okay?"

"You got it"

"Okay," he said as he removed the sling. He laughed, "You have a sling tan line"

They both laughed at the tan line right above her wrist "So I can drive now?"

"Yes"

"Thank you doctor"

"Call me if you have any problems" he said as she walked out.

As she walked down the hallway she spotted Tony sitting on a chair in the hallway he got up the second he saw her. "Hey!" she greeted him giving him a full hug for the first time in almost two months.

"Hey, I see you got it off!" he said with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, finally which is great."

"That's awesome."

"Thanks for the muffin by the way"

"Was I right?"

"I was at the beach"

"Score!" he laughed "I knew it"

"So wanna get lunch? I'll drive!"

"Sounds good to me," he said following her out toward the bullpen.

Right as they were exiting the bullpen Tony heard a voice behind them. "Tony?"

"What Carrie?" he said obviously annoyed as he slowly turned around.

"I was wondering if you wanted pizza for lunch, I ordered it for the whole group, but-"

"Lemme guess no one else is hungry for any cause you bought 10 minutes after people left for lunch, so it will just be you and me probably"

"Well George said he wanted some and-"

"Sorry I have plans" he said turning around and heading for the door with Michelle following after.

Once they were out in the parking garage Michelle stopped "Wait Tony"

He turned around "Yeah?"

"Is that the overly-friendly temp IPM?" she said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Yeah why?"

She shook her head "Nothing" she began walking again.

"What?"

"Nothing, just curious" she lied as they walked up to the car.

Tony handed her the keys "Your driving right?"

"I can drive your car?" she asked.

"Sure" he said getting into the passenger "Plus it's nothing special"

Michelle started the car with ease. "Still it's your _car_."

"I trust you, wow you started it with no problem" he said with a chuckle "It never starts that easy for me."

"I feel special," she said with a smile.

"You are," he said with a smile. "Wanna listen to some music?"

"Yeah!"

"What station?"

"104.9, it's my favorite"

"Ok" he said as he tuned the radio and sat back listening to the music…

_She left that loser in a dust cloud _

_Heart in his hands sitting on the ground _

_Cried the last tear for that clown _

_She can see a little clearer now _

_She said "Oh I gotta go and find me"_

_Oh she found the strength to break free _

_Like a painted wild mustang _

_Flying out across the open range _

_Finally gets to live her life that way _

_No fear, no fences, nobody, No reins _

_No reins _

_All she's ever felt is held back _

_She says, "It's kinda nice to hear myself laugh" _

_She's gonna do a lot more of that _

_She's making plans and making tracks _

_She said "Oh I gotta go and find me" _

_Oh she found the strength to break free _

_Like a painted wild mustang _

_Flying out across the open range _

_Finally gets to live her life that way _

_No fear, no fences, nobody, No reins _

_Oh, Oh she's learning how to let go _

_Oh, Oh whichever way the wind blows _

_Oh, Oh she's learning how to let go _

_Like a painted wild mustang _

_Flying out across the open range_

_Finally gets to live her life that way_

_Like a painted wild mustang _

_Flying out across the open range _

_Finally gets to live her life that way _

_No fear, no fences, no body _

_NO REINS_

_No Reins_

As the song ended her phone rang. She picked it up "Dessler?"

"Michelle?" she heard her brother sob.

"Danny? Is everything ok?" She asked worriedly.

"I need to talk to you"

"What? Why?"

"Cause I can't get into your apartment and I'm freaking out and I really need you right now." He said pacing back and forth in front of her apartment door.

"Is it serious?"

"Michelle I need you"

"But…" she looked at Tony who looked just as worried. "I'll be there"

She hung up the phone "I'm so sorry that was my brother and-"

"Hey" he stopped her "Don't even think twice about it, your brother needs you, and that's important. Go ahead"

'Could this man be any more perfect?' Michelle thought to herself. "Thank you so much" she said giving him a hug since they were at a red light.

"What are friends for?" he said with a smile.

Sometimes Michelle wished Tony was more than a friend, actually a lot of the times…okay pretty much always.


	12. Chapter 12 Crash and Burn

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Savage Garden)

Chapter 12

Michelle pulled up to her apartment and climbed out of the driver seat. She waved goodbye to Tony as he switched seats, and drove back toward CTU. Once he was out of site she decided to head inside. She got up to her door and noticed Danny had let himself in. She walked in calling "Hey how'd you get in?" when she saw him.

"Hidden key in the lamp-post" he said. "I thought you didn't leave hidden keys? You said they were an unnecessary risk and-" he questioned.

"Lately I've needed it," she stated simply.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Are you here to question me?"

"No" he said as he hung his head. "'I'm just kinda…I'm just going through a hard time right now"

"Yeah, you were having a hard time last time I saw you too, but then you went off with…." She shook her head "Well has it made things any better?" she scolded still obviously hurt.

"That's why I'm here" he said, "She dumped me."

Realization struck her. She knew exactly what this was about "Oh no, I don't even want to hear it!"

"Someone has to!"

"I _told_ you Danny, You should have listened!"

"Michelle I threw my whole world away for her. I ran away from you, my friends, signed the divorce papers-"

"What!?" Michelle said shocked "You divorced your wife for a fling!"

"It wasn't!!"

"Yes it was you-"

He cut her off "No! You know what? This was a mistake! Just stop! I thought you would understand but you just don't get it! I'm outta here!" he ran out of the apartment and slammed the door.

Michelle was left with her arms in the air standing in the center of her living room…_alone_. The weird thing was it wasn't _Danny_ she wanted to walk back through her door it was Tony.

He could always make things better.

_When you feel all alone  
And the world has turned its back on you  
Give me a moment please to tame your wild, wild, heart  
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you  
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold  
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore_

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn  
You're not alone_

_When you feel all alone  
And a loyal friend is hard to find  
You're caught in a one way street  
With the monsters in your head  
When hopes and dreams are far away and  
You feel like you can't face the day_

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night_  
_If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn  
You're not alone_

_'Cause there has always been heartache and pain  
And when it's over you'll breathe again  
You'll breath again_

_When you feel all alone  
And the world has turned its back on you  
Give me a moment please  
To tame your wild, wild, heart_

_Let me be the one you call  
If you jump I'll break your fall  
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night  
If you need to fall apart  
I can mend a broken heart  
If you need to crash then crash and burn  
You're not alone_

She took a deep breath, dropped her keys on the side-table, and headed toward the bathroom to wash up. She turned the hot water on and took a handful and held it against her face. As the hot water dripped out of her hands down her face and into the sink she shut her eye's as her mind raced 'Why is all this happening? I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. The second I'm feeling good something terrible happens. I don't know how much more of this I can take' she grabbed a white towel off the rack next to the sink and held it on her face it felt so good. She removed the towel and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. She tied her hair back in a messy bun and headed down-stairs for a snack. She reached the kitchen and glanced at the calendar. Monday she'd start work again. She sighed tiredly and headed toward the fridge.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony pulled up to CTU as he took the last bite of his sub. He headed in Mason yelled to him "Tony! Get over here!"

Tony hurried over "What's going on?"

"This report just came in," Mason said pointing to the plasma screen as he turned the volume up.

"Today an attempt on President Palmer's life was made by a Caucasian white male who appeared to be in his thirties. Thankfully, however, it was not successful. The –"

"There is no way he could have known where the meeting was being held unless they had clearance to." Mason muttered. He turned around to the staff of the bullpen "We were responsible for this one people! This meeting was under our watch!" he turned to Tony "Follow me"

Tony obeyed and followed George up the stairs as he heard one girl mutter, "Someone's getting fired for this."

He got up into George's office and just as the door closed he began talking "It had to be on the inside…had to…there's no other way…" he looked up at Tony "Get me a list of every person who knew anything about this meeting, every god-damned one of them!" Tony nodded his head and hurried out the door. It wasn't like George to get this angry, but Tony didn't blame him. George would most definitely get his head blown off by Chappelle and Hammond for this.

Once Tony set his computer to do the search for all the people that had accessed the information on Palmer's meeting he decided to call Michelle while he was waiting for it to process.

"Dessler"

By this time he was getting pretty good at hearing her mood in her voice "Hey, how'd it go?" he asked.

"Fine, he's just-" she took a breath "He's going through a lot…"

"You get to talk to him about it?"

"It didn't end well," she said sadly.

"I'm sorry Michelle"

"Yeah, me too" she added.

"Well I hope your day improves, maybe try calling him later?"

"If he'll answer," she sighed.

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure you were ok"

"Thanks" she said with a slight smile.

"Good luck, talk to ya later"

"Bye"

Tony took the printed copies of the results to the search and headed up to George. "Here are the candidates," Tony announced as he tossed the papers onto George's desk. The phone rang. "Take care of that for me" George said indicating to the phone.

Tony knew exactly what he meant. "Almeida"

The angry voice of Ryan Chappelle came backs swiftly "Where's Mason?"

"He's busy downstairs"

"Get him on the phone"

"He's busy right now can I take a message-"

"No you can get him on the phone…now!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Chappelle but Mr. Mason is not available to come to the phone" Tony said trying to be polite with every ounce of his being.

"A crisis is on our hands and he's unreachable?"

"The crisis was not his fault"

"It was, and if you know what's good for your job you'll have him call me back in the next five minutes" Ryan snapped as he hung up.

"Sorry about that" Mason said. "I just need a few minutes to get my defense ready cause I am gonna need a damn good one."

"He pisses me off," Tony growled looking at the phone.

"Your not alone on that one" Mason said with a small miserable smile. Mason looked over the list carefully "I need you to go through these and find out which people had enough access to know where the meeting actually took place, a lot of people knew small things but only a few knew all the details. That's how we work everyone gets information but not all of it just insignificant amounts to deal with, but being "in the loop" means you've been told all the details and how to connect them."

"Right, so basically just the people that lead the operation."

"The list should be very short, it will include you, me, probably Leslie and so on"

"Ok" Tony headed downstairs to his station. A few minutes later he had the list.

_George Mason-Director_

Anthony Almeida-Chief of Staff 

_Leslie Orlandler-Operations Coordinator_

_Carrie Turner- Temporary Internet Security Protocol Manager_

_John Dar- Communications Specialist_

Tony printed the list and headed to George's office He handed George the list. "Ok I'll call security to send them to holding. I need you to confiscate their phones. You've checked out as non-guilty so you'll aid my investigation."

"Who declared me non-guilty?" Tony asked

"I did a check while I was on the phone with Chappelle, you're fine" Tony nodded his head and left George's office on his way to holding.

When he got to the holding rooms it was quiet until the doors open and he heard them coming. "I don't understand, why you are doing this! I haven't done anything!" Carrie protested.

"Where are we going?" Leslie asked timidly.

"What is this about" John demanded.

Tony raised his hands "You'll understand in a few minutes. Right now I need your cell phones" They all looked at him questioningly. "Now" he said more sternly. They all reluctantly pulled out their phones. "Thank you." He turned to the guards "Just keep them in holding 1" The guard nodded and Tony headed back to George.

Tony dropped the phones on George's desk. "Alright let's do this together" Tony picked up Carries phone and George grabbed Leslie's.

Tony opened the phone "6 new voicemails" he mumbled. He called her voicemail "First unheard message sent today at 1:48 P.M. 'Hey Carrie it's Danny, I tried talking to Michelle and she just doesn't get it-'" as Tony listened to the message he thought 'this is Michelle's brother? Why is he calling Carrie?' the message continued " 'she totally blew me off the second she heard your name and realized I signed my divorce papers. Carrie don't you see? You're all I have left, the only thing I have to live for, I need you and if you're not around I might as well be dead.' Next message sent today at 2 P.M. 'It's me Danny…. I don't really know what to say I just REALLY want you to call me back, I'm sitting here staring at the phone, I'm so frustrated and lonely, and you don't care, Michelle doesn't care, my wife won't care, no one cares. In fact I could probably die and no one would even notice. Please call me back' Next message sent today at 2:17" Tony frowned as he thought 'This sounds bad' the next message began to play "'I bet no one would even miss me if I died, after all I am just a pain to everyone. I get on your nerves. I make Michelle cry almost every time I see her'" The brief thought of Michelle crying upset Tony " 'My wife doesn't ever want to see me again anyway, and my kids won't remember me anyway when they grow up so it'd probably better if I died anyway.' Next message sent today at 2:22 P.M. 'you wouldn't care if I died right? I wouldn't care either, it'd probably be better for everyone.'" Tony closed the phone "Carrie seems clean so far, I need to go make a phone call ok?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's personal stuff you can monitor if you want"

"That's ok I trust you"

"Thanks" Tony said as he laid down the phone and headed toward the parking lot to make his phone call. As soon as he had left the office George traced his phone and began a monitoring program.

_(Meanwhile in the garage)_

Tony hit the 3 on his phone to call Michelle. "Dessler"

"Hey Michelle"

"Hey what's going on?" she said lightly.

"Have you talked to your brother?"

"Not since this afternoon…. why?" she answered unsurely.

"You should really call him."

"Why?" she asked.

"It's a long story but right now it's very important that you call your brother" he said urgently.

"Tony?" she said sounding very worried.

"Trust me on this Michelle" he said.

"Ok" she hung up. Michelle started dialing Danny's number, afraid of what Tony had meant. The anxiety in her grew as the phone rang, this feeling tripled when he didn't answer. Michelle immediately got in her car and drove toward her dad's summerhouse, which was the only place she thought he could be.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony shut his phone and took a second to think before heading back into CTU. 'Were Danny and Carrie involved in a relationship?' that seemed to be the only logical explanation 'Whatever was going on with those messages…I just hope it doesn't hurt her, she doesn't deserve any more pain'

Tony headed back into CTU to get back to help George.

_(About 10 minutes later)_

Michelle got to Carrie's house to find that his car was nowhere to be seen. She knocked at the door and there was no reply. Then it struck her 'Dad's summerhouse' she thought. She hurried to her car

_(A few minutes later)_

Michelle pulled up to her dad's house, which looked empty, but Danny's car in the driveway told her differently. Michelle got out of her car and raced to the door, unlocking it with the key her father had given her. "Danny?" she called as she entered the house slowly. "Danny? Hello?"

She walked into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks.

There were medication bottles everywhere. He was slouched over and drooling. "Danny? Danny what happened? Danny wake up!" She shook him but he was out. She immediately regretted shaking him; he began to throw up all over the couch. She ran to the phone and dialed 911.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Ok that rules out Leslie" Mason said, "What'd you find on Carrie's phone?"

"Nothing, just some voice messages" he said trying not to make it sound interesting.

"From?"

"Guy named Danny. It was nothing"

"Danny who?"

Tony sighed "Dessler"

"Why?" Mason said perking up and immediately getting suspicious "What did he say?"

"I think they might have been involved"

"With the shooting?"

"No with each other"

"Oh" he said raising his eyebrows and sitting back in his chair "Well that's odd, but no sign of anything else?"

"No, she's clean"

_(A few moments later)_

The ambulance pulled up to the house. By the time the medics walked in tears were streaming down her face "I don't know exactly what happened, he won't wake up and he threw up twice" she told the paramedics.

"We'll do everything we can for your husband ma'am, but we just need some information." He explained trying to calm her. "Now what did you see?"

"He's my brother, and I didn't see anything I just came to see him and this is how I found him"

"Ok, thank you. We will do everything we can, but right now we need to get him to the hospital, are you coming in the ambulance?"

"Yes" she said as they all climbed into the back of the ambulance speeding of toward the hospital.

A half an hour later Michelle was sitting in the hospital waiting room staring at her hands. 'He was trying to commit suicide' she thought somberly 'and it probably worked, all because of me' she cradled her head in her hands 'If only I had thought to go to dad's house first…' her thoughts were interrupted by the doctor.

"Ms. Dessler?"

"Yes" she said lifting her head.

"Your brother is going to be ok"

Michelle let out a huge breath and tears started to form in her eyes again "Thank you so much"

"It looks like he over-dosed purposefully"

"Like suicide?" she said knowing the answer.

"I'm afraid so"

Michelle dropped her head "He has been going through so much, I just never thought he'd go this far."

"We had to pump the drugs out of his stomach, but he should be ok, but when he wakes up, a few people are gonna need to talk to him before he's released."

"Of course" she said nodding sadly.

"Ok, you wanna come see him" she said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah" she said after taking a deep breath. She followed him down the hallway. She walked into his room and slowly approached his bed. She stared at his closed eyes. 'He knew what he was doing. Every day people die and it's sad because they wanted to live, but he didn't even want to live which makes it ten times sadder. It's my fault he wanted to die, I need to make him want to live, I owe him that.'

He opened his eyes "Michelle?"

"Hey Danny" she said grabbing his hand.

"I'm alive?"

"Yeah, your alive" she said with tears in her eyes.

"What? Why?" he looked around "How?"

"I was trying to find you, and when I did, well…."

"You came looking for me?" he said hopefully.

"Yeah, I couldn't find you" she said with a sniff.

"Oh, how'd you know I'd be at dad's?"

"You weren't at Carrie's" she said looking down 'I could've stopped him' she thought.

"Oh" he looked down "Since when have you cared?"

"I've always cared, I've just…I've been really busy lately"

"With what?"

It was then that she realized that she had never told Danny about what happened to her. "Danny about a month and a half ago I was kidnapped by a group of-"

"What!?" he said with disbelief on his face.

"It's ok"

"Were you hurt?" he asked squeezing her hand.

"I go back to work Monday"

"You're still recovering?"

"No I got my sling off this morning"

"That's where you were?"

"Yeah"

"So what exactly were your injuries"

She really didn't want to worry him so she decided to skip the death part and water the story down. "I had some head injuries, and a minor bullet wound…"

"MINOR bullet wound?" he exclaimed "is that even possible!? You can't have a _minor_ BULLET wound cause when your hit by a bullet its not a _minor_ thing!"

"Shh, calm down, I'm fine" she said stroking his arm. "I'm ok, I have completely recovered"

"Yeah that's what you say," he said looking down.

"I really am ok," she said sitting on the edge of his bed "The doctor gave me a check-up today and he says I am perfectly fine"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

_(Meanwhile)_

"You can let her out" Tony told the guard. He released Carrie.

"What the hell was that about!?" she scolded

"There was a leak, we needed to find the source," he stated crossing his arms.

"And you thought I was a traitor?" she yelled.

"We couldn't just rule our anybody"

"You were ruled out," she muttered as she walked off.

That was Carrie's last day at CTU as the Temporary Internet Protocol Manager and Tony, for one, was glad about it. 'In fact' he thought as he took out his phone 'I wonder how she's doing' he held the number 3 down.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle's phone rang as she sat next to Danny. She looked at the screen "I'll be right back"

"Who is it?" he asked

"My friend" she answered stepping out of the room and flipping open her phone. "Dessler"

"Hey, how'd it go?" he asked gently.

The sound of his gentle voice made her want to let go and release everything she was feeling, but she was in the middle of a hospital so she wouldn't instead she took a deep breath "He um…He tried to …" she felt as though if she said it she'd lose control.

Sensing this he said, "I know, that's what it sounded like, which is why I called you.

"Thanks for letting me know" she looked at her feet "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't"

"We had a leak and Carrie was one of the suspects, I was checking her phone when I found 6 voicemails from him and they digressed from 'call me back' to ' no one would care if I died so I might as well'" he paused "Were they dating?"

"I guess you could call it that"

"What happened?"

"It's a long story that ends in me not being there when he needed me, the way he's always been there for me"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," he said.

"Michelle?" Danny called from inside the room.

"Danny's calling me," she said.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later" he said

"All right bye" she said closing the phone, and heading back in to see Danny.


	13. Chapter 13 I Turn to You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Christina Aguilera_)

Chapter 13

Two days later Michelle awoke to the blaring buzzing of her alarm clock. 'Ugh I hate waking up early' she thought 'one thing I didn't miss'. She smiled at the thought that today she got to go back to work. Today she gets to change from 'Poor Michelle who got kidnapped and pretty much died' back to 'Michelle Dessler the capable federal agent who can conquer anything'

She was excited. She hurried in to the bathroom to take a shower.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony Almeida glanced at his watch as he walked in '6:55, I was almost on time' he thought as he headed to his station.

"Almeida" George called him. Tony turned around "Your on time" he said with a smile "what's the occasion?"

"Funny" Tony commented as he headed back to his station.

"Michelle's starting back today, bring her up to speed" George called after Tony.

"Alright" he said with a smile that George couldn't see, at least that's what he thought.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle was now out of the shower and getting ready for work. It was 7:07 and she had 13 minutes until she had to leave in order to get to CTU on time. She hurried around the house getting dressed in some of the new work clothes she had bought and doing her hair nice. She wasn't going back to CTU as a victim; she was going to return as strong, if not stronger than she had been before that day.

After all she _had_ recovered fully…right?

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony glanced at his watch once again '7:21' he leaned back in his chair. He glanced over at her desk. There were various papers scattered on it and sticky notes in different places. 'Clean feels like home' he remembered. He headed over to her desk. He stacked all the papers Carrie had left behind, and stuck the sticky-notes neatly along her dry-erase board to the left of her monitor. He put all her pens, pencils and highlighters in the CTU mug. As he was finishing wiping the coffee stains, and food crumbs of her desk he felt a tap on her shoulder. He spun around to see her smiling.

"Good Morning" she said with a huge smile. She still had her coat on and she was carrying her purse under her arm.

"Hey! Your back!" He gave her a quick friendly hug.

"Looking for something?" she asked knowing exactly what he had been doing.

"You know better than that"

"I do" she said with another smile "Thank you"

"No problem, she left it such a mess and I felt bad. I didn't even want to let her use this desk." He looked down at the coffee stain he had been working on "She was so messy"

"Yeah, don't get me started on her" Michelle said as she set her purse down on the desk.

"Well anyway, welcome back"

"Thanks"

"I'll bring you up to speed as soon as you settle in" he said heading back to his desk.

"Okay" she smiled, as she took off her jacket and sat in her chair, but just as she did George walked up. "Hey Michelle"

"Hello George" she greeted

"How you feeling?"

"Great" she said, "I'm definitely ready to be back"

"That's good" he said, "have you checked in with medical?"

"Not yet" she said "That's where I was just about to go"

"Alright, have you talked to Tony yet?" he asked.

"Actually, I just saw him"

"Okay, let me know if you need anything"

"Okay" she said turning around and starting her computers.

About ten minutes later Michelle walked into CTU medical. "Michelle?" she heard from beside her, she turned to see Diane.

"Hey!" Michelle said giving her a hug.

"Hi" she said simply staring at Michelle.

"I haven't seen you in awhile." Michelle said casually.

"When I got back I did the surgery on your arm." She said, slightly in a daze as she continued to stare at Michelle like she had grown a second head.

Michelle was taken aback by this, "Oh I thought Dr. McKinnsey did my surgery"

"He was busy repairing you abdominal area, they needed a second surgeon."

"Oh" Michelle said uncomfortably. "Thank you"

Dr. McKinnsey walked in "Good Morning Michelle" he said "Back for work"

Michelle openly invited this new conversation "Absolutely"

"Ok we just have to-"

"Already?" Diane interrupted.

Dr. McKinnsey stopped "Yes Michelle has recovered very well. I have been giving her regular check-ups, and she got her sling off Friday"

"It's only been what not even two months?" she said in shock. "This woman was pretty much dead when I was forced to leave her, then she had to lay on the floor in a pool of her own blood for what was probably about 20 minutes in which time she probably died, so you revive her and 8 weeks later she's back to … this!?"

"I'm fine" Michelle said starting to get defensive.

Just then Tony walked in "Hey Michelle, how much longer do you think you'll be? I want to get you up to speed soon because we have a meeting at 10 A.M."

"Uh yeah, okay I won't be much longer" she said.

He could see it in her face "Is everything okay here?" he asked the group.

"Mr. Almeida you care about Ms. Dessler correct?" Diane asked.

"What do you mean?" he said.

"Well as far as I know your one of the top numbers on her emergency card so you must be good friends, plus as I understand it you're the one that led the rescue team to get Michelle that day."

"Yeah"

"After that much trauma do you think she is completely capable to be back in this…_place_?"

Tony stepped all the way into the room "I watched Michelle recover, I checked on her in recovery here, and made sure she was okay while she was at home on leave. So if anyone can testify to her capability its me." He glanced at her, and then looked back at Diane "I believe she is fully capable of resuming her duties."

Diane looked around she was outnumbered. She Gave Michelle a slight nod and headed toward her office.

"I'll see you upstairs," Tony said as he left.

"Okay" she said, slightly in shock of how Tony had managed to defend her so well.

"You ready for your physical?" Doctor McKinnsey asked.

"Yes"

_(That night)_

Michelle got into her car and started the engine 'That went pretty well' she thought except for that little episode this morning' she decided not think about it so she turned on the radio and drove off toward the hospital to check on Danny like she had promised.

_When I'm lost in the rain,  
In your eyes I know I'll find the light  
To light my way.  
And when I'm scared,  
And losing ground,  
When my world is going crazy,  
You can turn it all around.  
And when I'm down you're there  
- pushing me to the top.  
You're always there,  
giving me all you've got._

For a shield from the storm,  
For a friend, for a love  
to keep me safe and warm  
I turn to you.  
For the strength to be strong,  
For the will to carry on  
For everything you do,  
for everything that's true  
I turn to you.

When I lose the will to win,  
I just reach for you and  
I can reach the sky again.  
I can do anything  
'Cause your love is so amazing,  
'Cause your love inspires me.  
And when I need a friend,  
You're always on my side  
Giving me faith  
taking me through the night

For everything you do,  
for everything that's true  
I turn to you.

For the arms to be my shelter  
through all the rain,  
For truth that will never change,  
For someone to lean on,  
For a heart I can rely on through anything,  
For that one who I can run to... 

She pulled up to the hospital and got out of her car. When she got up to his room she peaked in the room "Crap" he muttered, frustrated, as he slammed down the phone.

"Danny?" Michelle said as she walked in.

He looked surprised "Oh hi Michelle" he said.

"Who was on the phone?" she asked. He didn't answer. "Where you trying to call someone?"

"No one" he lied.

She sat on his bed and spoke softly and calmly to him "Danny you know I can easily find out who you just tried to call"

"Yeah I know," he said bitterly.

"Who?" she paused and cautiously continued "Her?" He nodded his head, not making eye contact. "Please, let her go you don't need her" she looked down "Why did you call her?"

"I don't know," he said looking at his feet. "Just someone to talk to"

"What about me?"

"You were at work," he said finally looking at her.

"You can call me at work if there's ever something you wants to talk about" She said trying to keep eye contact with him to show her sincerity.

"You always seem so busy like you have a complete life, and then there's me on the side watching-"

"Your not on the outside," she said looking away "and my life is far from complete" she sighed "Danny, you're my brother and I love you. I am always here for you." She took his hand "I know I may seem really busy sometimes, but from now on trust me I _will_ make time for you when you need me."

"Really?"

"Of course" she said hugging him.

About ten minutes later Danny was tired so Michelle decided to head home. As she drove home she thought back to her conversation with Danny 'I've been neglecting him.' She decided 'I need to start making more time for him, pull away from my career just a little and focus on what's important.' Michelle thought about Jay and couldn't help but feel a little guilty. In her mind she believed that it was partly her fault. 'He never would have had to cheat on me if I hadn't neglected him when I started at CTU especially after that field mission. That's where we really started to go wrong. I was too worried about healing and to be honest Tony. It's almost like I was cheating on him.' As she thought it hit her. 'He probably felt awful. It was my fault.' Michelle felt terrible now. 'Ok that's it no more ridiculous shifts at work, no more blaming other people no more…Tony?…no but he's my friend he never did anything wrong. I can't neglect him as a friend, but that's all he can be- no more. I already screwed Jay's life up I won't do that to another perfectly good man. He deserves better anyway.'

Little did she know, Michelle had never been so wrong in her life.

_Thanks for all your wonderful reviews I really appreciate them!_


	14. Chapter 14 100 Years

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Five for Fighting_)

Chapter 14

Tony woke up the next morning to his cell phone ringing. "Almeida?"

"Tony I need your help" a young male voice said at the other end of the line.

"Joe?"

"Yeah" his younger brother answered.

"What's wrong?" he asked a little bit worried.

"Ok you know Katie?"

"Your ex-girlfriend who you stalk, but are too wimpy to confront?" Tony said slightly teasingly.

"She's getting married today," he blurted.

"Married!?" Tony said surprised "You guys only broke up a few months ago!"

"I know! We've got to stop her," he said ambitiously.

Tony stopped "Oh no, I'm not-"

"Please Tony, all we have to do is-"

"Your on your own"

"You suck, come on your _Tony_ the federal agent, Mr. Capable, you have authority."

"Not over two people trying to get married… unless they are terrorists"

"He sounds fishy to me…seriously"

"Seriously you're crazy," he said getting out of bed.

"Come on Tony, really. I'm not just this childish kid trying to get a toy back just cause I'm jealous someone else has it. I have feelings for her. Right before the fight I was gonna tell her I loved her."

"I'm sorry Joe but this is between you and her there's really nothing I can do."

"And I know you like to make light of it and call me a stalker but seriously I really care about her. I want so badly to have the guts to just tell her I love her and I want to be with her but in my head I keep making all these excuses."

Tony immediately thought about Michelle. He had been doing the same thing. "I know what you mean"

"It's crazy to love someone and let the opportunity pass right by. It's ridiculous in fact." He took a deep breath "I'm going"

Tony was slightly distracted "good luck buddy" he said hanging up the phone. His brother had been right. Tony sat back down on his bed and gazed out the window. He had dreamt about her before. Even though lately it had been mostly heartbreak and sorrow surrounding her, and most men would turn and run at that, there was just something about her. He didn't know what it was about her but every time she smiled at him, even the slightest smile, he just melted and got a glimpse of what kind of person she truly was outside of work, crisis, injury, messed up relationships, all the things that seemed to be haunting her. All he knew was when he saw his future he saw her in it, the happy her, the one that smiles and always has something cute to say to make him laugh. The more he thought about it the more he realized that she was the opportunity of a lifetime and he wasn't gonna waste any more of his life watching because Tony knew more than anyone that time is limited and he wanted to live his life to the fullest...with her by his side. His radio alarm sounded to his favorite station, 104.9, as his dream of their life together continued he listened to the music…

_I'm 15 for a moment  
Caught in between 10 and 20  
And I'm just dreaming  
Counting the ways to where you are  
I'm 22 for a moment  
She feels better than ever  
And we're on fire  
Making our way back from Mars  
15 there's still time for you  
Time to buy and time to lose  
15, there's never a wish better than this  
When you only got 100 years to live  
I'm 33 for a moment  
Still the man, but you see I'm a they  
A kid on the way  
A family on my mind  
I'm 45 for a moment  
The sea is high  
And I'm heading into a crisis  
Chasing the years of my life  
15 there's still time for you  
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself  
Within a morning star  
15 I'm all right with you  
15, there's never a wish better than this  
When you only got 100 years to live  
Half time goes by  
Suddenly you're wise  
Another blink of an eye_  
_67 is gone  
The sun is getting high  
We're moving on...  
I'm 99 for a moment  
Dying for just another moment  
And I'm just dreaming  
Counting the ways to where you are  
15 there's still time for you  
22 I feel her too  
33 you're on your way  
Every day's a new day...  
15 there's still time for you  
Time to buy and time to choose  
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this  
When you only got 100 years to live_

Tony definitely would not pass up this opportunity after all as every second passed he missing out and "time is running out" as Jack would phrase it.

_(An hour later)_

Michelle was on her way to work when her phone rang. "Dessler?"

"Hey" Danny said cheerily.

"Good morning" she said with a smile.

"So uh… how's your morning goin?" he asked.

"Pretty… ok" she said pulling into the CTU parking lot.

"Well, ya know that sounds good I just figured I'd call you just if you wanted to talk"

"Thank you" she said. "I'm doin ok, how are you"

"Yeah I'm good ya know… a little bored but good."

"I know that feeling, when I was in recovery I was bored out of my mind, but my friend came and visited me and you know what else helped pass the time?"

"What?"

"Grey's Anatomy"

Danny giggled, "I can't get caught dead watching that show, I heard that's girly"

"Hey, you know what they say 'only real men wear pink'" she said.

He laughed "Yeah but that's pink and this is _Grey's Anatomy_"

"Hey what are you trying to say?" she said mock-defensively while taking her keys out of her ignition "I like Grey's Anatomy for your information"

"I can see that, but do you have ideas that don't involve love-crazy doctors?" he chuckled.

"How about I bring you a DVD player at lunch, I'll bring some DVDs for you to watch?" she suggested.

"That sounds good" he said "I'll let you get to work"

"Ok bye" she said hanging up. She sat back in her seat and thought about her conversation with Danny. She then glanced at her watched and sighed realizing that if she didn't hurry into CTU she'd be late.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony was at his station when his phone rang. "Almeida"

"Hey Tony it's George"

"Hey George"

"Remember last Friday how we had to fire John?" George asked.

"Yeah"

"Well over the weekend we have been lagging big time in communications we need to hire a replacement for him."

"Yeah, he was a really important part of my department, I've been drowning in filing ever since we fired him."

"Well we obviously can't hire him back but we need to find a replacement for him."

"I agree"

"I have a few interviews set up for today. I won't have time to deal with them but you and Michelle can handle that, right?"

"Yeah"

"By the way how was her first day back, I didn't really get a chance to talk to her."

"She seems fine"

"Fine has many meanings Almeida" George said with a half smile.

"She is capable, and happy to be back"

"Right, anyway I'll send you the interview times and candidates"

"Alright" Tony said hanging up the phone. His computer beeped and the message popped up, he scanned it and looked up. Just then Michelle entered the bullpen. "Hey Michelle" Tony called.

"Hi" she said passing him.

'That was odd' he thought 'she normally stops by my desk and says good morning' "Hey Michelle?" Tony said getting up and catching up with Michelle next to her desk.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"As you know there is an open position that needs to be filled in my department so George wants you and me to interview a few people"

'He looks so handsome' she thought 'but focus Michelle, focus on what's important Danny and keeping your job, stay professional.' "Okay what time?"

"The interviews are from nine until twelve"

"Alright" she said sitting down at her desk as Tony headed back to his thinking 'Maybe she's just not in a good mood, she seems so cold today.'

(8:55)

"Are you ready?" Tony said as he walked up behind Michelle.

"Yeah, one sec, I'll meet you in there." She said not even looking up at him. Tony headed to the situation room and sat on the left side of the table, in the place where he always sat. As he looked through the file Michelle walked in. Instead of sitting next to him where she normally would she sat a seat away. "Who's are first candidate?" she asked.

"Gerald Ponner" Tony answered.

The phone rang and Tony pushed the speaker button "Yeah?"

"Mr. Ponner just arrived."

"Send him in" Tony said and hung up. He turned to Michelle "You okay?"

"What?" she said not knowing what to say.

"You seem a little, I don't know different today, just wondering if everything is ok?"

"I'm fine," she answered as Gerald walked in.

"Hello" Gerald said as he walked in.

"Hello Mr. Ponner my name is Tony Almeida and this is my colleague Michelle Dessler." Tony said as they both stood.

"Nice to meet you" he said shaking their hands.

"Alight Mr. Ponner, we'd like if you could tell us a little about yourself."

"I'll be completely honest with you" he began confidently "I am excellent at what I do, I am willing to compromise with superiors, I am a perfectionist so you can rest assure that all small details will be taking care of, and I am thorough with my work."

"That sounds great" Tony commented, "It says in your file that you have 2 kids and you are a single parent"

"Yes my wife died a few years ago."

"I am very sorry for your loss, but being that you are a single parent do you think you will be able to put in some of the extra hours that this sort of job demands?" Michelle commented.

"My schedule is pretty limited, but I will do the best that I can."

The phone buzzed "Tony the next candidate is here."

"Send her in" Tony answered. He looked back at Gerald "Thank you for coming sir, we will get back to you by the end of the day."

"Okay thank you," he said leaving. As their next candidate walked in.

"Good morning I'm Tony Almeida and this is Michelle Dessler" they said shaking her hands which were very sweaty.

"Good Morning" she said nervously forgetting to introduce herself. She realized this and said "Oh sorry I'm Paula Schaeffer"

"Hi Paula, Michelle and I would like to get to know you a little so do you think you could tell us a little about yourself?"

"Yeah! Um I have worked for the HK California Corporation as a um Programmer um Analyst" she stuttered as words flew out of her mouth " I was um at the uh Los Angeles Medical center and I worked with like uh-"

"Paula" Tony said gently "Slow down, relax and slow down this isn't an interrogation you're doing fine."

She took a deep breath "I'm sorry, I just want this job so badly, this is the kind of work I've always wanted to do, and I just really want to do a good job."

"That sounds great Paula. You sound like a great candidate, is there anything else you'd like to let us know before start our next interview?"

"Have I covered everything I need to? This interview seems so brief"

"Well before you even walked in we reviewed your file. We know your professional and personal history, this interview was just to try and learn your personality to see if you'll fit in here, and if you are really ready to take on the responsibilities of working here."

"I am," she said.

"I can tell" the phone buzzed

"Tony the last candidate is here," she said.

"Okay Mary send her in," he said to the phone.

"Thank you Ms. Schaeffer" Michelle said waving to Paula as their third and last candidate walked into the room.

The man walked in and his eyes immediately fell on Michelle. As he stared at her Tony decided to stop it. "Hello I'm Tony Almeida and this is my colleague Michelle Dessler."

He looked up at Tony "Hello Mr. Almeida" he turned back to Michelle "And Ms. Dessler…or is it Mrs.?"

"I'm not married," she said slightly uncomfortably as she sat down.

"I'm surprised," he said with a flirty smile "And my name is "Victor Gulcine"

"Mr. Gulcine please tell _us_ a little about yourself." He said trying to make eye contact, but it was useless he wouldn't take his eyes off Michelle.

"I am a very _hard worker_," he said directing everything he was saying to Michelle "at least that's what my previous superiors say, I have no problem with _long hours_, and I am pretty _flexible_ as far as my schedule goes."

"That's nice, we will get back to you by the end of the day" Tony said trying to cut this as short as possible.

Victor looked up "That's it?"

"Yes, we know your history we just wanted to get to know your personality and I think we have a pretty good idea of your intentions."

"That was fast, I barely feel like I know _you_ well enough," he said staring once again at Michelle.

"That was no the objective, but thank you for your time, we will call you with our decision by the end of the day." Tony got up and walked tot eh door, he opened it and said "thank you for your time Mr. Gulcine"

Victor reluctantly got up and winked at Michelle as he left the room. The minute the door shut behind him and it was safe to talk Tony said, "Yeah right like that'll ever happen"

He sat down next to Michelle who said "I don't know"

"My votes on Paula" Tony said.

"I definitely would not feel comfortable hiring the first guy. He has two young children, this job is too risky plus he would never get to spend time with them."

"Yeah and the last guy was a jerk, he was not focused at all"

"Are you sure Paula can handle this though?"

"She'll adapt I'm sure. She seems very dedicated and I think she'll be an asset once she gets over the nervousness."

"Okay, so are we done here?" she said looking at the clock which read 11:56.

"Yeah, I'll let George know"

"Alright"

_(Half an hour later) _

"Hey you!" Michelle greeted happily as she entered Danny's hospital room carrying a DVD player and a bag of movies.

"Hey! You brought the DVD player!"

"Yeah and some movies from my house"

"No chick flicks right?"

"No" she said with a smile.

Just then the doctor walked in "Oh Michelle hi-"

"I had her come by to ya know bring me some stuff to do cause I've been pretty bored sitting around here."

"Well actually not for much longer which is why its great you're here, I need to speak with you."

"Alright" she said putting the DVD player and movies down and sat down facing the doctor.

"Danny is physically 100, so he can go home as long as he has a care-taker to sign him out, take him home, and look after him until his follow-up appointment which will be in about a month."

"Yes!" Danny said looking expectantly at Michelle.

"I uh" Michelle wanted to say yes and sign Danny out, but she wasn't sure if she was comfortable being responsible for him along with her job, but his pleading face changed her mind. She decided she would take on the responsibility for him, after all it was her fault he was here. "How do I sign him out?"

"Just follow me," the doctor indicated toward the door as he got up and headed out.

"You ready for this?" Michelle asked.

"I am sure I am ready for this" Danny said excitedly.

Michelle followed the doctor out the door and down the hallway. He stopped at the nurse's station, picked up a clipboard and led her to the waiting area where they sat. "Michelle I am going to be completely honest with you. Danny has been physically good-to-go for a couple days, we just wanted to assess his personality and make sure he was stable. He seems to be doing great which is why we are now offering this" he said pointing to the sign-out papers on the clipboard in his hands "but before you do this we want to warn you that in many cases people that have gone through what Danny has been through have relapses, and we just want to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into."

"I understand this is a big choice, but he wants to go home so badly, and I feel bad leaving him here. I personally think he'll be a lot happier at home."

"Now not to pry or anything, but when you say 'home' you mean what?"

"My house, he'll be staying there until I feel he is strong enough to find a house, or talk to his wife…well ex-wife"

"Alright, well here are the papers if you so choose. Just hand them to the nurse when you are done if you choose to go through with this. If you have any further questions just have one of the nurses page me" he said shaking her hand and heading off as she stared down at the papers.


	15. Chapter 15 Chemicals React

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Aly and AJ_)

Chapter 15

Michelle glared down at the clipboard of papers in front of her. 'He'll be happier' she assured herself. 'If he needs someone to talk to I'll be there for him, what difference would it be if he stayed here?' she picked up the pen, but hesitated 'Do this Michelle, you owe me' she heard Danny's voice in her head tell her.

At that Michelle began filling out the paperwork, not looking back.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony walked into George's office after being waved in "We have our decision on the new employee"

"Already? Great, you make a great team" George said with a small amount of enthusiasm.

"Paula Schaeffer is our pick, you can look over our notes of the other candidates, but we definitely think she's the one."

"That's not necessary I trust your decision." He said re-focusing his attention on his computer screen.

"So you'll make the calls?" Tony asked.

"No that's Chappelle's job, but I'll let Chappelle know of our decision after lunch."

"Okay" Tony said.

_(20 minutes later)_

Michelle placed the clipboard on the counter at the nurse's station, the nurse sitting there picked up the papers and said "Okay this looks good, we'll review it now if you want"

"No that's okay, I actually have to go back to work now, but let him know I'll be back to take him home after work, around 4"

"I'll do that," she said with a smile.

"Thank you." Michelle said heading out of the hospital, and heading back to C.T.U.

_(Later)_

"Hey I told George about our decision for the new communications specialist."

"What did he think?" she asked slightly interested.

"He trusted our decision"

"He's not gonna review it?"

"No, he says we worked well as a team" Tony said crossing his arms across his chest.

'Friends Michelle, friends… don't lose sight of your promise to Danny… no more distractions' she told herself, but in the back of her mind she _knew_ that she and Tony were a great team in every way.

_(Later)_

Michelle was on her way out of C.T.U. when she felt someone grab her shoulder. She turned around to see Tony standing there. He didn't look as confident as normal, he was fidgeting slightly and scratch the side of his face the way that she noticed he always did when he was anxious. "Hey Tony"

"Uh Michelle, I was wondering if you wanted to meet for dinner tonight, if you didn't have plans."

Michelle caught herself. Her instinct was 'Yes Tony, I would absolutely love to!' but her conscience stepped in saying 'Danny, Priorities… Distraction???' Michelle looked away from him. "I'm actually busy tonight, sorry." She couldn't stand there and look at him any longer so she dropped her head, turned away, and headed out.

_You make me feel out of my element  
Like I'm walkin' on broken glass  
Like my worlds spinnin' in slow motion  
And you're movin' too fast _

_[Chorus__  
Were you right, was I wrong  
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah  
Both of us broken  
Caught in the moment  
We lived and we loved  
And we hurt and we joked, yeah  
But the planets all aligned  
When you looked into my eyes  
And just like that  
The chemicals react  
The chemicals react _

You make me feel out of my element  
Like I'm drifting out to the sea  
Like the tides pullin' me in deeper  
Makin' it harder to breathe

We cannot deny,  
How we feel inside  
We cannot deny 

_Kaleidoscope of colors  
Turning hopes on fire, sun is burning  
Shining down on both of us  
Don't let us lose it _

Tony stood there shocked, hurt, but most of all reminded… reminded of a time not to long ago that he now remembered vividly…

_Flashback_

"_You ok? You wanna go to dinner tonight, maybe it'll make you feel better" he tried lightly._

"_I'm busy tonight." Nina snapped_

_End Flashback_

"Not again" he whispered to himself as he stood there. He looked up and began walking toward the garage. He got into his car and immediately could smell her. She had been sitting in the seat he was now in, less than a week ago, in fact. He looked down at the sweater sitting on the passenger seat, it was hers, she had left it there but he had never gotten a chance to return it. Her smell was on it. He picked it up and smelt it. It smelled fresh and clean… it smelled like her. He set it back down; he was not going to do this to himself again. He had thought he was falling for Nina too right before she had stabbed him in the back. He wouldn't let Michelle do the same. 'But this is different, she's different!' his heart cried out. Tony knew this was true but still part of him was yelling 'You'll get what you deserve then Almeida, your being dumb and naïve just like before… you're a FOOL…" then a famous saying rang in his head "…Fool me once you're the fool, fool me twice I'm the fool…don't be a fool!' Tony sighed and put his head back and closed his eyes. He couldn't decide what to think. She's becoming distant, all day she wouldn't look at me like she used to, she wouldn't talk to me if it didn't pertain to work she wouldn't care about being best friends like she used too… she kept her distance. 'Like Nina' his common sense chimed in. 'But she's not like that and you know it, you've seen it' his heart urged gently. Tony let out another sigh this was too much thinking. He turned the key. His car rumbled and died "Hate this old thing" he muttered. He tried again and the engine roared to life and Tony began his ride home. But as he drove the thoughts crept back into his head 'You were there with her at her lowest point, you picked her pretty-much-dead body off the ground, you're the reason she's alive and walking around. It's so much more personal with Michelle you know her so much better than Nina' his heart nagged. 'That's what you think now, just like you thought you knew Nina, you were about to hand your heart to her' the other side of him commented 'so what if Michelle turns out to be everything Nina turned out to be?'

(Meanwhile)

Michelle was on her way to the hospital. 'That was it, you blew it' she thought. 'That was your chance at happiness and stability and you crushed it you idiot and what's more than that you hurt him. You screwed yourself and you hurt him. What did he ever do to you, but take care of you and help you and you hurt him' Michelle took out her cell phone and dialed his home number. 'He should be home by now, he lives close' She got his answering machine, "Hey Tony it's me, Michelle, I just called to apologize about before" she took a deep breath "There's just been so much going on with my brother" it then hit her that she had never told Tony about what had happened to Danny, Tony had known Danny was upset and something was wrong but she had never told him about Danny trying to commit suicide "Danny went through some really serious stuff, but thanks to you he's ok, look please call me when you get the chance… I have so much I need to say to you and I don't want to do it on your answering machine… bye" Michelle shut her phone. Once she pulled up to the hospital and parked she shut off her car. She leaned back in her seat and took a deep breath. 'Why is this so difficult?' she wondered 'I want this man so much, what the hell is wrong with me that I can't just…priorities…. that's what…where's that voice that's been nagging me about priorities? Where is it now? It can't stand up to how I feel about him… which is a lot stronger than I thought actually' she closed her eyes 'priorities…. things that are important' she defined 'so what is important, what, if gone, would change my life for the worst? Danny- if something happened to him I'd be a wreck, after all he's the only family I have left other than dad, but I can never face him anymore… so that leaves Tony… he's becoming a priority. God, today was so hard trying to stay away from him, it killed me not to talk to him, and look at him, being cold to him surely wasn't easy, though I did a good job apparently which is not something I'm proud of….' She thought back to today 'Yeah he's definitely a priority'

Michelle exited her car and headed into the hospital. When she reached the nurses station the head nurse was there "Hello Ms. Dessler"

"Hi, is he ready?"

"Yes, he is. He's very excited." The nurse said as she led Michelle to Danny's room.

_Well that ends the Season 1-2 time period. For those of you who have been dying to see Tony and Michelle get together…here it comes! The next day after this chapter takes place is Day 2 of 24._

_I tried hard (and I hope I did a good job) to weave different things in there that would pertain to later seasons like the signing Danny out of the hospital thing which parallels with season three when she hesitates to sign Tony out. They were just small details that parallel with the way Tony and Michelle think and make decisions in the actual show. Like for example the fact that Danny strangles Carrie in the second season shows that mentally he wasn't ready to be signed out of the hospital and Michelle will realize that shouldn't have taken his word for it when he said he was ready to leave the hospital, which is why when she is put in the same situation in season 3 she hesitates when Tony is begging her to sign him out of the hospital against the doctor's orders. It's just something I think is fun to do…anyway get ready cause here comes the season 2-3 period which will begin the first week of January!!_

_Until then Merry Christmas to all that celebrate it…. and Happy Holidays to all!!_


	16. Chapter 16 Take Me There

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Rascal Flatts_)

Chapter 16

'See ya tomorrow' Michelle replayed these words in her head, it was time to get a new phrase of his in there anyway because after all 'Don't be sorry…I'm not' had been stuck in there aver since 3 A.M. like a song that you just can't get out of your head, and not that it had gotten old, but 'See ya tomorrow' sounded so good. The smile vanished off her face, however, when she entered the medical room. "Danny?"

"Hey Michelle" he said groggily.

"Hey, how you feeling?"

"Like crap"

"Why?" she said sitting next to him.

"I failed you" he said breaking eye contact.

"What? How?"

"What do you mean 'How?' Did you _not _see what happened?"

"Danny-"

"No don't try and coddle me, I don't deserve it."

"Listen to me" she said sternly. "It's not your job to be 'all better'. It's not your job to be all right, it's not your responsibility to be as good as new…your healing Danny so relax and don't beat yourself up over every mistake, your gonna run into problems and make mistakes along the way…but no matter what I'm here to help you."

His eyes were watery "Thanks sis" he hugged her.

"Always." She hugged him back "So… are you ready to go'

"I think so," he said getting up.

Michelle thanked the nurse and she and Danny headed down the hallway, but as they passed Tech 1 an analyst stopped Michelle. "Hey Michelle I know you're on your way out but I need a little help opening something, it'll just take a second"

"Okay, hold on" she turned to Danny "Can you just wait here a sec? I'll be right back"

"Yeah" he said leaning up against the wall.

"K, I'll be right back," she said as she headed in the door on the other side of the hallway.

A minute or so later Tony came walking down the hallway "Hey Danny" he greeted stopping.

"Um, hi"

"How ya feeling?" Tony asked tilting his head to the side.

"Good… how do you know my name?" Danny asked unsurely.

"I'm a close friend of your sister's" Tony said.

"Oh" Danny replied, but just then Michelle emerged from Tech 1.

"Hey Michelle" Tony turned around.

"Hey" she said

"What are you doing?" he said.

"I was just helping Conner open up some software"

"Go home Michelle, get some rest you work too hard." He looked at his watch "Aren't you supposed to be home by now?"

"Aren't you supposed to be on crutches right now?" Michelle said indicating to his ankle while turning to leave.

"I don't need them" he assured her as she headed down the hallway with her brother in tow.

"Uh huh" she called back to him with a smile. "Sure ya don't"

_(Later)_

She was walking down a dark hallway. Where she was going she did not know. She was looking for something, someone…anyone. She could hear screams and agonized people yelling and a lot of crying but she couldn't follow the voices because they seemed to be all around her. There was so much smoke and dust in the air she felt like she was being suffocated, all of a sudden she tripped over something. She stopped and felt for it…. It was a person. She squinted and realized it was Tony. "Tony?" she whispered. He was dead.

"Priorities" his body whispered.

All of a sudden she felt a tap on her shoulder it was Jay. "It's _all your_ fault!" he yelled. Just then she heard a small rough male voice.

She turned around to see Danny "Michelle" he looked down at what appeared to be Carrie's dead body on the floor in his hand "Why am I doing this?… Stop me!" he cried.

Just then someone grabbed her hand and gently pulled her. She followed the hand and didn't fight it. The hand was soft and warm. As she let the hand lead her they sped up until she was running. It was still dark so she couldn't see whom the hand belonged to, but as they ran the dust began to clear, she looked down at her feet as they ran and watched as slowly the dust and smoke dissipated. Slowly she could see her feet and the floor got cleaner and it was getting lighter. They stopped and she looked up to see whom the hand had belonged to…

Tony

She smiled, but just as she did she heard a loud noise that was a mixture of people yelling her name and the sound of feet running. She turned around it was Jay yelling her name and running at her angrily. Carrie striding toward her with police in tow. Danny calling her name as he struggled to keep up yelling, "Stop me!" and Paula stained in blood hurrying along side them in silence.

Michelle turned to Tony who had his hand outstretched "Come with me" he said calmly.

But she turned back around to see that everyone had caught up to them and were now attacking her.

She woke up "Help!" she screamed, sweating. She looked around her living room. She was ok, it had only been a dream, but she was shaking and sweating like crazy. She looked down the hall 'Danny didn't hear me' she thought. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't stop shaking. She felt like she couldn't catch her breath and she was ice cold. She thought back to her dream.

"_Come with me" _he had said.

She picked up the phone, which was right next to her.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony was sitting on his couch; he couldn't sleep so he had decided to watch TV. He just couldn't get Paula out of his mind. 'I hired her' he thought over and over 'she'd still be alive today if I hadn't' Just then the phone rang.

"Almeida"

"Hey it's me," she said.

"Hey, what's the matter…can't sleep?"

"I had the nightmare from hell. How bout you?"

"Can't sleep"

"Oh" she said not sure what else to say.

"Wanna get out?"

"Yes" she said with a smile.

"Where do you wanna go?"

"Anywhere that has something hot to drink"

"Cold?"

"I can't stop shaking, I am cold, but I think this is a nervous thing" she said looking down at her shaking hand.

"You ok?" he said slightly concerned.

"I'll be ok" she assured him.

"I'll pick you up in about 20 min. is that good?"

"Yeah"

"Ok, see you soon" Tony said hanging up and heading to his room to get a sweatshirt.

_(15 minutes later)_

Michelle heard a light knock at the door. She opened it and stepped out in a heavy coat. "Wow you weren't kidding," he said looking at her. "Your still shaking a little" he commented.

"It's actually gotten a little better," she said.

"Wow, that must have been one hell of a nightmare," he said. She looked up at him and he could see in her eyes how much the dream had freaked her out "It'll be ok though." He said reaching out for her hand.

By instinct she went to take it but as he led her to his car she hesitated slightly 'it just a coincidence' she assured herself as she continued to follow him to his SUV. She got in to his car, it was warm "Ahh it feels so nice in here" she commented.

"Yeah it's so cold out, I can't believe summers already over"

"I can't believe it's already November"

"Me neither, I hate the cold and I'm guessing you do too judging by the size of that jacket."

"I'm freezing," she said.

"Well I picked up some hot coco for us" he said pointing to the cups on the dashboard.

"Ahh" she said picking up the cup closest to her. "Thank you so much"

"Your welcome" he said taking his own and sipping it. "So where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere quiet" she said taking another sip.

"My place?"

"Sounds good," she said sitting back in her seat soaking up the warmth of her drink. Tony wasn't ready to ask her about her dream yet. He wanted her to be able to share personal things like her dreams with him. He wanted to know the things that scared her, made her laugh, he wanted to know all about her and he hoped she was ready to share with him. He turned up the radio…

_There's a place in your heart nobody's been,  
take me there.  
Things nobody knows, not even your friends  
take me there._

Tell me 'bout your mama, your daddy, your hometown, show me around.  
I wanna see it all, don't leave anything out.

I wanna know everything about you.  
And I wanna go down every road you've been.  
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live,  
where you keep the rest of your life hid.  
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare  
take me there.

Your first real kiss, your first true love  
you were scared. Show me where.  
You learned about life, spent your summer nights  
Without a care,

_take me there._

I wanna roll down Main Street, the back roads  
like you did when you were a kid.  
What made you who you are?  
Tell me what your story is.

I wanna know everything about you.  
And I wanna go down every road you've been.  
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live,  
where you keep the rest of your life hid.  
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare  
take me there.

Yeah, I wanna know everything about you  
Yeah, everything about you baby  
I wanna go down every road you've been  
Where your hopes and dreams and wishes live  
Where you keep the rest of your life hid  
I wanna know the girl behind that pretty stare  
Take me, take me, take me there

I wanna roll down Main Street  
I wanna know your hopes and your dreams  
Take me, take me there

With in 15 minutes they were at Tony's place. "This is nice" Michelle commented as they walked in.

"Yeah, I get a good deal on the monthly rate cause I know the landlord"

"That's nice," she said finishing her hot chocolate. "That was so good" she commented indicating to the empty cup.

"Here I'll take that," he said receiving the cup from her and throwing it away in the kitchen. He invited her to sit on the couch and she did. "Are you cold?" He asked noticing she hadn't taken off her coat yet.

"Yeah" she admitted.

He got up and headed down the hall. He returned a minute later with a purple blanket. "Do you want to wrap up in this to keep warm?"

"Yes, thank you" she said taking the blanket and up zippering her coat. When she did he noticed that she was still slightly shaky and looked really small and fragile underneath the coat. He took her coat from her as she wrapped her self in the blanket. She loved the smell of the blanket; it smelled like him, which was a scent she was beginning to love.

"So do you wanna talk about you dream?" he asked as he took off his shoes and got comfortable on the couch facing her.

She looked away in thought 'It's not like he's never seen you cry before' she reminded herself 'plus you know you need someone to lean on right now'…. "Okay" she said looking down.

"Okay" he said trying to make eye contact with her but she was still looking down.

"I uh…I'm not sure where I was or how I got there, but I think it was C.T.U." she began "There was a lot of dust and it was dark so I couldn't see anything but I tripped over someone and it looked like you…dead"

"Oh, usually it's easier to understand your dreams if you pick them apart and try to remember where all the details came from" he said.

"Well, I know where this part's from"

"What is it?" he said taking her hand.

"When the bomb went off the first thing I did was look for you and I found this guy that looked just like you and I thought it was you so started to panic, but that's when you came over with Luke."

"I noticed you looked upset, but I thought that was because you just survived a bomb"

"Yeah"

"So what happened next in your dream?"

"People started surrounding me and yelling at me"

"People like who?" he said looking deep into her eyes.

"Jay telling me it was 'all my fault', Danny had Carrie next to me and he was asking me why he ….I guess killed her and yelled to me to 'stop him'."

"Wow, I'm so sorry" he said realizing that she had an extremely good reason for being shaken up.

"So all these people who were surrounding me started to overwhelm me but then someone grabbed my hand and led me out of the dark place. All the smoke and fog cleared and I was safe. It was brighter now, like the sun had come up and I could breathe. But within a few seconds everything started catching up with me… all the people and more were running toward me and the man that had led me out of the dust asked me to follow him right as they all started attacking me, and as they ambushed me I woke up."

"That sounds terrible," he said hugging her "I'm so sorry you had that dream"

"Yeah me too"

"By the way did you ever recognize the man that led you out of the dust to safety?"

"Yeah when we got into the light I could see his face."

"Who was he?"

"You"


	17. Chapter 17 You Found Me

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Kelly Clarkson_)

Chapter 17

It was 4 A.M. when Michelle finally returned to her apartment. Tony had dropped her off after her explaining that if she wasn't home by morning Danny would freak out when he woke up. As she took off her shoes another new phrase of his was ringing in her head 'I'm glad I could be the person to lead you out of the dust and darkness'. He had told her this after she had finished telling him about her dream.

Michelle was exhausted from her lack of sleep but knew there was no way she'd be able to sleep with all those terrifying images in her head. Instead she decided to take a shower to warm her up.

Once Michelle was out of the shower and fully dressed it was 5 A.M. "It's so _early_" Michelle moaned as she made her coffee. She looked at the calendar it was Friday November 7. 'Thanksgiving is coming up' she thought to herself as she sipped her coffee.

_(A couple hours later)_

Tony walked into work Cub's mug in hand, he was dead tired and was already ready for this day to end. He walked in and mistakenly headed to his old station before remembering that he had a new office and position. The day before now seemed like an alternate universe to Tony. He was director, George died, and he and Michelle finally unleashed their feelings for each other, but as Tony walked through the rubble that was left of CTU his 'alternate universe' became more and more real again.

_(30 minutes later)_

"Good morning" Tony heard. He looked up to see Michelle smiling at him with her head poked in the door.

"Hey you" he said with a small smile of his own "Come on in"

She walked all the way in and headed over to his desk. "Ever get any sleep?" she asked.

He loved how she cared about him. His lack of sleep would affect him all day but most of his previous girlfriends never cared whether he slept at night as long as he was there to make them happy, but she was different she cared if _he _was happy. "Actually no… I'm pretty tired" he didn't want to complain but this was the obvious truth. She nodded her head with a sympathetic look "You look tired too"

"I am, but I think I'll make it" she said with a smile.

"Well you'll be happy to know Ryan has authorized us all to take some time off for compensation."

"How long?" she asked as her eyes widened at the thought.

"3 weeks" he said with a smile.

"When?" she asked even more excited.

"Starting Monday, although most people won't start until next Monday"

"So who starts this Monday?"

"Anyone who was severely injured and the new top three officers"

"Who are the new top three?" she asked just realizing that she might have a promotion.

"Ryan and I are having a meeting today to decide" he said looking down "It looks pretty promising" he said as if reading her mind.

_(Later)_

"Alright so Division has decided to completely restructure CTU" Ryan said halfway through the meeting.

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Well structurally obviously" he said looking around "And personnel-wise"

"Like how?"

"They like the idea of separating CTU into two departments, field ops and intelligence. We had an emergency meeting this morning and we decided you will lead Intelligence and once Jack Bauer gets out of the hospital he will lead the Field Operations department. You need to find a chief of staff and he needs to find a second and a secretary. Did you have anyone in mind for you Chief of Staff, because Division is especially anxious to have that position filled."

"Yes, actually I think Michelle Dessler would do a great job."

Ryan thought for a second "Sounds like a good choice to me…. Do it"

Tony held back a smile 'she deserves it' he thought.

"All right now about compensation time" Ryan said. This meeting was getting better and better. "Anyone who was seriously injured along with senior officers will begin their time on Monday but all lower level analysts are to report to Division everyday next week at 9 A.M. for work, their time off begins the 17th." He looked up from his binder "Let everyone know"

"Alright"

"That's all for today, but stay reachable… even throughout your leave. Are we clear?"

"Yes"

_(Later)_

"It's 11:30 Michelle you should go home" Tony lectured.

"I just want to finish this… I don't want our system to be a complete mess when the division people come" she said typing vigorously.

"Uh huh" he said sitting on her desk next to her keyboard.

She looked up at him "And don't give me that look" she said.

"What look?" he aid innocently.

"That 'Michelle you're completely insane and it's amusing look,'" she said

"No you misunderstood" he said "that was the 'Michelle you're adorable, but you're a crazy workaholic' look"

She looked up and smiled "I'm not a workaholic, I just don't wanna look bad when Division comes. I don't want them to get here and be like 'That Michelle Dessler is such a slacker, look at how screwed up this system is' how would that make me look?" she asked.

"You look just fine" he commented, which made her smile "Ms. Promotion"

She smiled even wider "Well I guess I can thank you for that."

"No you can thank your workaholicness" he said with a smile.

"I'm pretty sure that's not a word and I'm not a workaholic"

"Okay but now we're going in circles so come on" he nudged "don't you have to get home to your brother?"

"No, I brought him food before and let him know I'd be working late, but he's okay with it because the meds he's on make him sleep pretty much all day"

"So let me take you out," he said.

This she couldn't resist "If you insist"

"Now we're making progress," he said with a smile.

_(Later)_

Tony and Michelle emerged from the late-night restaurant and got back into Tony's SUV. "I feel a lot better now that I've eaten" he commented as he started his car.

"Me too" she said.

"So what do you want to do?"

Michelle put her head back on the seat "Sleep, but I know I won't be able to." She closed her eyes "When I close my eyes I see all those people" she said, her voice was heavy with emotion.

"I see Paula on that stretcher every time I try to fall asleep." He said sadly.

"I feel so guilty" she said.

"I hired Paula, and I feel terrible about it," he said sitting back.

"All those people who died, they deserved to live… more than me at least"

He could tell she needed someone to talk to, so he sat up and suggested, "You wanna come over and talk? Since there's no way we're getting any sleep?"

"Yeah"

"Okay" he said shifting into gear and pulling out of the parking lot.

About 15 minutes later they walked into Tony's house. They both headed to the couch and sat in the same spot's they had the night before. Michelle got the purple blanket and wrapped herself in it. "I see you've found your blanket," he said with a smile sitting down.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind"

"Not at all" he said looking over at her "So how's your hand doing?"

"Okay"

"What exactly happened to it?"

"A piece of glass went about half way through," she said looking at it. "It's doing really well though. How about your ankle?"

"It's fine," he said expecting another lecture about his crutches that he hadn't been using, but instead he noticed she was still examining her hand. "You okay"

She looked up and her eye's were full of tears "The first thing Luke asked me after you gave him to me was if _I _was hurt. He asked _me_ if _I _was hurt when he had head trauma and couldn't even walk."

"He is a really nice guy"

"_Was_," she said in a very quiet tiny voice. "He died last night, I got a call right before bed"

He looked shocked as tears began to roll down her face and said "I hadn't even known, no one told me" he said pulling her in for a hug.

She was losing control of her emotions fast and with him comforting her she couldn't help but let go, she felt safe to… so she did. "I can't believe it even happened!" she cried, "What kind of people would ever _want_ to do something like that?"

"They are evil, sick people Michelle," he said softly as he rubbed her head.

"Lisa had three children and she died right on the spot, she never even go to say goodbye"

"I'm so sorry 'Chelle" he said as he rubbed her back "I know you guys were friends"

"When were on that mission she was the person that I wanted to live. She's a mother of three kids, those kids depend on her and she had a husband, they were happily married and now her husband is left with no one and her kids don't have a mother. She was so important she deserved to live more than most people, more than me, more than-"

"Hey" he said stopping her and pulling away a little to cradle her face "_You_ are important"

"She had three kids and a husband that needed her"

"You have people that need you and care about you" she looked dead into his eyes "Danny needs you and I don't know what I would have done if you had died" at this a fresh wave of tears appeared. She cried into his shoulder as he continued to rub her back.

Her crying slowed a little, she began to speak her voice was muffled by his shirt "You want to know what George said to me as he was dying?" she said into his shoulder.

"What baby?"

"He was telling me about his life and how he regretted being greedy and not living his life to the fullest." She paused and pulled back and looked at him "He told me to find something that makes me happy and do it because everything else was background noise" he looked deep into her eyes "Tony, you make me happy. You make me more happy than anyone else" she was opening up to him and it scared her but she braced herself.

"Michelle you don't know how much that means to me" he said feeling his emotions creeping up on him "I thought that I'd never care about another woman ever… but now… sitting here with you… these past few months… Michelle I've never cared about someone the way I care about you"

He leaned in and kissed her slowly. She put her hands on the back of his head and he cupped her face as they slowly kissed. As they kissed he could feel her starting to cry again. "What's the matter honey?"

"Thank you so much" she said hugging him tightly.

"For what sweetheart?" He said holding her close.

"For being my best friend, helping through all the things I've been going through, for caring for me even though you don't have to"

"I want to" he said "I want to be there to hold you when you cry… give you a blanket when you're cold… listen to your dreams and lead you out of the darkness and keep you safe from all the things that scare you."

_Is this a dream?_

_If it is_

_Please don't wake me from this high_

_I've become comfortably numb_

_Until you opened up my eyes_

_To what it's like_

_When everything's right_

_I can't believe_

_You found me_

_When no one else was lookin'_

_How did you know just where I would be?_

_Yeah, you broke through_

_All of my confusion_

_The ups and the downs_

_And you still didn't leave_

_I guess that you saw what nobody could see_

_You found me_

_You found me_

_So, here we are_

_That's pretty far_

_When you think of where we've been_

_No going back_

_I'm fading out_

_All that has faded me within_

_You're by my side_

_Now everything's fine_

_I can't believe_

_You found me_

_When no one else was lookin_

_How did you know just where I would be?_

_Yeah, you broke through_

_All of my confusion_

_The ups and the downs_

_And you still didn't leave_

_I guess that you saw what nobody could see_

_You found me_

_You found me_

_And I was hiding_

_'Til you came along_

_And showed me where I belong_

_You found me_

_You found me_

_When no one else was lookin_

_How did you know?_

_How did you know?_

_You found me_

Tony held Michelle close and leaned back against the couch taking her with him. She wrapped her blanket around him as well and cuddled her head in to his chest. "Oh my god Tony, you mean so much to me I… I just can't even believe it," she said closing her eyes.

"Me too" he said closing his eyes. A few minutes later he opened his eyes to realize she had fallen asleep. He looked down at her face which was relaxed, he thought about all the things she had been through with that kidnapping, Jay abusing her, Danny making her crazy, and now with what happened at CTU… no wonder she was at her breaking point any sane person would have gone crazy by now, but she wasn't any person… she was stronger than that. The thought of all the pain she had endured brought tears to Tony's eyes. He was so glad she hadn't died… 'What if she had?' Tony visualized her funeral this was enough for a tear to fall, but he wiped it away. He thought about Paula, Lisa, and George's funeral which he knew would be coming soon and he would definitely be in attendance. But for now he didn't want to think about it, instead he held Michelle close and enjoyed the warmth she was giving off as he shut his eyes and slowly fell into the only sleep he had since the day before the bomb.

_Don't forget to review! Thank you for reading :)_


	18. Chapter 18 Know You That Good

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Shania Twain_)

_This is one of my favorite chapters; tell me what u think by reviewing when you're finished! Thanks to all of the people that have been reviewing!_

Chapter 18

Michelle lazily opened her eyes the next morning and found herself completely confused until she remembered what had happened. She was pretty sure she had never been so comfortable in her life. She was lying on her stomach pretty much on top of his chest. Her face had been nuzzled into his neck the entire night; she hadn't tossed or turned at all. His arms where wrapped securely around her, keeping her feeling safe and warm. She looked at his face he was completely relaxed. He wasn't 'Tony Almeida Director of CTU Los Angeles', he wasn't a field agent, his guard was down and he was just…. Tony…asleep which, by the way, Michelle found adorable. She slowly lowered her head back down onto his chest and listened to him breathe; she closed her eyes and relaxed until a thought hit her 'Danny'. She jerked her head up. "Oh crap!" she said which woke Tony up.

Tony, who was in a complete daze, opened his eyes. "Michelle? …What's wrong?" he said in a deep raspy confused morning voice.

"I forgot about Danny…. He's probably wondering where I am…what time is it?" she said starting to sit up.

"What? Who's Dan-" He cut himself off and stopped to think while rubbing his eyes, "Your brother?"

Michelle stopped panicking and smiled, "Are you awake?"

"I'm slow in the morning" he said scratching the back of his head "So your brother did what?"

Her panic re-occurred to her "He's probably already awake wondering where I am"

"Ok, ok slow down your mind is moving too fast for me" he said sitting and blinking a few times "Ok so you need a ride to your house right cause we took my car right?"

"Yeah, I guess so" she said.

"Ok, let me just get my keys" he said getting up and slowly sauntering into the kitchen while muttering "I need some coffee"

Michelle smiled slightly when she heard this. And took out her phone to call Danny. She looked at the time on her phone '11:34…I don't think I've slept in that late in a long, long time' she thought to herself as she dialed her home phone number. "Hi you've reached Michelle Dessler I-," her voice on the answering machine said. She closed her phone 'Maybe he's still asleep' she thought as she followed Tony to the car.

He turned the key and the rumbled to a start "Here we go" he said, his voice still sounded heavily sleepy.

"You sure you can drive?" she asked with a small smile.

"Do it every morning," he answered rubbing the side of his face.

"There's a scary thought," she said.

He chuckled. "Yeah well I usually have a cup of coffee before I leave, so I'm okay"

After a few minutes Michelle started to talk again "Do you think he's okay?" she asked looking out the window.

"Who? Me? …" He stopped "oh your brother"

"Wow Tony, you sleep okay?" she said placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Last night I slept better than I have in years."

She smiled and blushed slightly "Me too"

_(Ten minutes later)_

They pulled up to Michelle's house and Michelle got out and walked around the car "Thank you for everything" she said leaning in through his window to give him a kiss.

"Your welcome" he said, "hope everything goes okay" he said indicating to her house.

"Thanks" she said.

"Call me when you want to go pick up your car" he said.

"Well let me check on him and if he's okay can we go now?"

"Sure" he said with a smile "After all we have the day off"

"Okay be right back," she said hurrying into her house. She opened the door and felt a rush of heat hit her. It felt good, but she headed into her house straight toward her guest room where Danny was staying. She walked into the room and found the bed empty. She was instantly worried "Danny?" She called as she cautiously walked down the hallway to check the bathroom not knowing what to expect. Once she was sure Danny was not in the house she hurried back out Tony. "Tony I lost him" she said as she ran up to his window which he rolled down as she ran up.

"He's not in there?" she shook her head "your sure?"

"Yeah" she said, "I don't know where he could have gone! He couldn't drive and there wasn't even a car here… plus he was on so much medication… Tony he could be anywhere"

"Okay, we'll find him… come on get in" he said.

She ran around the car and got in. "Does he have a cell phone?" he asked her as she sat down.

"Yeah" she dialed the number "No answer" she told him as she shut her phone.

"Maybe he took a cab somewhere?"

"My dad's house" she said "maybe he went there because he left something there or something"

"Ok can you call your dad?"

She looked at him wondering why he had just said what he did "No"

Tony slightly confused said, "Ok do you want to go there and see if he's there?"

"Yeah, its about 20 minutes north of here" she said pointing up the road "Make a left"

He looked at her again and shifted the car into gear following her directions. They drove in mostly silence with Michelle occasionally directing Tony. They pulled up to the house. Tony looked closely at it. It was blue with gray stone in some places. It was a fairly nice one-story house. Tony wondered to himself about Michelle's parents. He hadn't been the one who hired her, typically he would have been but they hired her while he was taking some time off, and he had never checked her background and therefore knew little about her childhood other than the fact that she had a brother. Michelle sat there staring at the house. "Are you gonna go in?" he asked as she stared at the house.

"I'm scared to" she said with her eyes not moving from the house.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Will you?"

"Of course" he said still wondering what was wrong with her dad and now wondering why going into this house was so scary for her. "Ready?"

Michelle nodded her head but didn't move. Tony knew she'd need some coaxing so he got out and walked around to her side of the car and opened her door. She looked away from the house and looked at him.

"Come on" he said holding out his hand. She looked back at the house then turned back to him and put her hand in his as she slowly climbed out of his SUV. She took a few steps away from the car and he shut the door for her still holding her hand. He led her to the house never letting go of her hand. She stayed a step behind him walking toward the house cautiously as if ready to turn and run if she saw something scary. He got up to the door, he turned to her but she wasn't paying attention instead she was looking at a set of windows to the left of the door where the blinds were closed, but she continued to stare. He looked down at her hand where her keys were and slowly took them from her.

"The green one" she said in a whisper her eyes still not moving from the windows.

Tony looked at the key ring and spotted the key with the green top. He unlocked the door and opened it. The door opened to a large foyer with a piano and grandfather clock that had stopped ticking. There were a few doors on the far side of the room and openings in the walls one the left and right. He stepped over the threshold and gently tugged on Michelle's arm. Her eyes, which had still been glued to those windows looked up at him slightly watery. She stepped up into the house. Tony looked to his left into the room, which belonged to the windows she had been staring at. He began to walk toward it but she stayed glued to the spot. She wouldn't take another step toward the room. "Come on, I'm right here" he said taking a step toward her. Her eyes locked with his as she slowly stepped closer to him. Together they walked hand in hand to the room with her still one step behind him half hiding behind him. Tony entered the room and looked around there were beer cans and empty pill bottles around, but the room was empty. Suddenly he felt her leaning on his back and heard her start to cry. He turned around and held her.

"Michelle what happened here?" he asked as she cried. She shook her head 'no' into his chest but he pulled her face and cupped it with his hands "Come on baby talk to me" he said gently, but she just cried in response. He led her to the couch and sat her on it with him. She continued to cry into his shoulder as he soothed her "Shhh…. it's okay…. just relax…I'm here" after a few minutes she slowed and Tony took this as his cue "Talk to me baby"

She looked up at him; her face was completely red and soaked with tears "Do you remember how you thought something was wrong with Danny and you called me and told me to get in touch with him, and I told you he tried to commit suicide?" she said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah" he said unsurely.

She paused and pointed to the couch adjacent to them that was missing its cushions "That's where I found him"

Tony's face dropped as he stared at the couch "Oh my god" he said pulling her in close as he stared out the couch horrified by what she had just told him. "I'm so sorry". He glanced around the room it was terrifying now that he knew what had gone on in it. "You wanna go in another room?"

She nodded and they both slowly got up and left the room, they headed straight into the kitchen. Tony led Michelle to counter, and she sat down at one of the stools.

"Do you want a glass of water?" he asked going around the counter.

"Yes, please" she said cradling her head in her hands, sniffing, and wiping her eyes.

"You okay?" he asked handing her the glass.

"Yeah, thank you" she said.

Tony watched her drink the water and asked gently "Michelle where is your father?"

She looked up at him surprised at the question "What?"

"You say this is his house but he's not here, where is he?"

"How do you _not_ know?" she asked. "Don't you do a background check on everyone you hire?"

"I didn't hire you, I was away at the time"

"So you… have no idea?"

"None whatsoever" he said leaning across the counter and taking her hand once again.

"So you've been putting up with all of this, taking care of me, helping me through all of this and you have no idea what's even going on?"

"I trusted that eventually you'd tell me, but it didn't matter much anyway because all I wanted to do was be there for you"

Her eyes began to water "Thank you"

He reached out and help her other hand and slowly leaned over the counter and gave her a kiss. It was one of sweetest most tender kisses he had ever had and he loved every second of it. After about a minute she pulled back and began talking "My dad is in jail" she said staring at the counter in front of her, she looked up at him and at this moment he was sure that he had never seen her this vulnerable.

"It's okay". …That's all he said, and that's all she needed. She let go of his hands and took hold of his face pulling it toward hers. She kissed him with all the emotion she had been feeling the past few days, he was taken aback by this but reciprocated fiercely anyway. As they kissed he cupped her face and she moved her hands to behind his head. He wanted to be close to her but didn't want to break the kiss to walk back around the counter so he just leaned in closer as they kissed in hopes of feeling closer to her. Just then Michelle phone began to ring. They both jumped at the sound. She took a few deep breaths and reached for her cell phone. Her face lit up "It's Danny!" she said opening the phone.

"Danny?" she asked.

"Michelle? This is Candice," a familiar female voice said.

"Candice?"

"Yeah I just called to let you know Danny is here with me I just didn't want you to be worried." She said

Michelle let out a sigh of relief "thank you so much"

"Sorry I didn't call earlier, he came over last night and apologize and admit to everything and no matter how much it seems like words could never be enough to take back what he did… somehow I'm satisfied… but anyway he's asleep now"

"Okay as long as he's alright"

"Do you want me to have him call you when he wakes up?"

"He can call me when he is ready" Michelle said.

"Okay I'll guess I'll talk to you sometime soon then."

"All right, bye" Michelle said hanging up the phone.

"He's home, at his old house with his ex. Apparently he went over and apologized and he's staying there and he's okay" She let out a breath.

"That's wonderful sweetheart"

At this one word Michelle looked at him. "…What?" he asked.

"Nothing" she said looking away.

He came around the counter "tell me…what?"

He sat on the stool next to her as she looked up at him "I just um… I like it when you call me that" she blushed and looked away.

Tony thought for a second and realized what she meant "That's good because I plan on referring to you as my sweetheart for a very long time."

She looked back up at him "I-…. umm"

"What?" he said.

She blushed and smiled slightly and looked away from him then her face got very serious and he could see the emotion welling up in her eyes.

"What is it baby?" he said as he stroked the side of her face.

"It's just that…" she said looking at her hands.

"What is it Michelle?" he said wondering what was so important that she couldn't say. He pulled her chin up and she locked eyes with him.

"I uh, I think I'm falling in love with you" she said, but she wasn't smiling.

"I _know_ I am" he said and at that Michelle smiled on of the most beautiful smiles Tony had ever seen as he pulled her in for yet another passionate kiss.

_I'll be there when you're sleepin'  
and every hour you're awake  
I wann hear your secrets--  
wanna share your worries  
Wanna go the deepest--  
I don't wanna hurry  
I wanna take a lifetime to  
memorize your face  
Wanna hold you closer--kiss you longer  
Wanna hear your heartbeat--  
stronger and stronger _

Wanna know you all over  
Till I know you be heart  
Gotta know you with all that I got

[Chorus:  
I wanna know you that good!  
Like no one knows you  
Gonna reach way down deep in your mind  
I wanna get to know you--  
wanna get to know you  
Wanna get to know you that good

Gonna know you right through  
You know I want to  
So badly it hurts all the time  
I wanna get to know you--  
wanna get to know you  
Wanna get to know you that good  
Yeah, I wanna know you that good

Every feel of your fingers-  
every curl in your hair  
Don't wanna miss a minute--  
wanna be right in it  
Do everything you're doin'--  
go everywhere you're goin'

Wanna know you all over  
Till I know you by heart  
Gotta know you with all that I got

[Repeat Chorus

I wanna know you that good  
Wanna know your emotions--  
wanna taste every tear  
Wanna hear you breathin'--  
feel what your feelin'  
I wanna get to know  
Know you that good!  
Like no one knows you  
Gonna reach way down deep in your mind  
I wanna get to know you--  
wanna get to know  
I wanna get to know you--  
wanna get to know  
Wanna get to know you  
To know you  
I wanna know you by heart  
I wanna know you that good 


	19. Chapter 19 As Long as You Love Me

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Backstreet Boys_)

Chapter 19

The ride back to Michelle's house was quiet, but that didn't bother Tony and Michelle, they were content to just hold hands as Tony drove with the radio playing softly.

"I feel so much better" Michelle said with a smile.

Tony glanced over at her as he drove "Why's that?" he asked.

"First of all Danny's safe… man he scared the hell out of me, but I'll take care of him later." She took a breath "I told you about my dad" Tony glanced over at her again. She was looking down at her free hand. "I've never told anyone I've dated about him… well where he really is"

"Not even Jay?" Tony asked.

"I told Jay that I just didn't see my father… wasn't close to him" She looked over at him "He didn't like that answer and probably knew I was holding something back, but never really cared enough to push it, so we just kinda left it at that."

"I'm sorry if I seemed a little nosy, it's just that well we were in his house, and I had no idea what was going on, and you were upset-"

"I'm glad you did," she said with a small sad smile. "I was so afraid of when it would come up, but at that point I was in no position to lie to you, and I'm really glad you took it well… most men would run at hearing something like that"

"I'm dating you Michelle, your father is a factor but it's not like you are destined to be what he is… whatever that may be, I don't even know… any way it's you I care about, it's you I'm falling in love with… not him"

"Do you wanna know what happened?"

"Only if you are ready to tell me," he said pulling into her driveway.

"You deserve to know"

"It's not what I deserve, it's your choice, your story, it's whatever your comfortable with"

"I think you should know"

"All right then tell me, how about over lunch?"

"That sounds good," she said getting out of the car and heading up toward her front door.

_(Half an hour later)_

"How long do you put these things in for?" Michelle wondered out loud as she studied the French-fry box

Tony walked up behind her and pointed to the center of the box "7 to 9 minutes" he read. "Do you want me to cook them?"

"No I got this, how hard could it be you just stick them in the oven for…

"7 to 9 minutes" he finished with a smile

"Which is it?" she asked "7 or 9?"

"You check them at 7 to see if their done or if you like them crispier they could take up to 9 minutes" he said.

"Yeah, so you just put them in for…"

"I like my fries crispy"

"So 9 minutes" she said confidently "No problem" she said as she put them in the oven and turned it on.

"You know you're supposed to pre-heat it first right"

"Huh?"

"Never mind… cooking lesson later" he said "Pizza's getting cold"

"Let's eat" Michelle said heading over to the table.

"So I see you were really serious about the whole 'I can't cook thing'" Tony said as they sat together at her table with the pizza they had ordered.

"I really can't cook" Michelle said with a giggle.

"And if you could you wouldn't be able to, you have no real food in here anyway"

"Real food?"

"Yes _real_ food, food that requires cooking, food that's good for you, fresh food, food that will go bad…real food" He said with a smile as he kissed her forehead.

"I just never learned to cook… and every time I tried it was a disaster so…"

"Your mom never taught you?" Tony asked.

"Ok story time" Michelle said realizing he really had no clue about her life.

"All right" he said his demeanor turning serious as he turned to face her.

"First of all my mom is dead" she said.

"I'm so sorry" he said as realization struck him.

"It's ok," she said brushing it off. "My dad is in jail for murder and use of a stolen weapon – but it's not as bad as it sounds," she added quickly.

"Relax Michelle, it's ok" he said taking her hands in his.

"I was 23, almost finished bachelor's degree in Computer science, Danny was 19 just about to finish high school… it was a Saturday, and we were on spring break from school. Danny and I decided to go to the mall and my dad had work so my mom was home alone." She said watching as she spoke while analyzing his reactions. "It was around 5:00 when my dad was on his way home. He pulled into our neighborhood and a few police cars went by… he wondered what they were for but didn't think about it too much, but as he got closer and more cars were driving around him he got really worried… finally he pulled onto our street and saw them around our house. He pulled up just in times to see the robber turn around through the window. When the robber saw the police he got angry and shot my mother three times and screamed at her 'you lied to me you bitch'" her eyes teared up.

He hugged her "I'm so sorry"

She pulled back after a second "It gets worse" she whispered "My dad was so upset that he ran at one of the officers and stole the man's gun." She continued "He shot the burglar right as he ran out the front door…three times."

"That's terrible," he said letting go of one of her hands to stroke her face.

"My grandfather, my only living grandparent at that time, arranged her funeral" she said sniffing "I visited my dad in jail once… but after that he told me not to visit anymore… he said he didn't want me to ever have to set foot in a jail because I was a lady and I shouldn't have to deal with a scummy place like prison."

"He was right" Tony assured her.

"I miss him, but I can't bring myself to go back" she said looking down "About a year after he told me not to come back I did to tell him about my grandfather's death… and he… was so different, he was cold, he hated that I came, he yelled at me and told me I no business in the prison… I left crying" she said as a tear escaped her eye.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," Tony said as he held her and rubbed her back "You didn't deserve any of that and I won't let you ever have to deal with something like that ever again, at least not alone."

"He had changed so much, it was like he wasn't even there, he was so angry"

"I know, people who are in prison usually go there for a good reason, your father unfortunately was probably the only decent man in there… and having to be around people like that day after day can really mess you up"

"He was probably just trying to protect me, but the way he looked at me… the way he yelled at me…"

"It must have been so hard, especially going through that alone… but I promise I will do everything I can to make sure you never have to go through that again."

"You mean that?"

"I do"

"I love you Tony," she said looking up at him with nothing in her eyes but pure love.

"I love you too Michelle" he said leaning down and kissing her. A minute later they were interrupted by the blaring sound of the smoke alarm "the fries" Tony muttered as he realized what was happening. He jumped up and ran to oven turning it off. "Crap!" he scolded as he pulled the tray filled with burnt fries out of the oven.

Michelle got up and fanned the fire alarm with a pillow from the couch. "It's ok this happens a lot" she said calmly as she continued to fan the alarm.

Tony's panic changed to a smile "Told you I should have cooked them"

"Hey it wasn't all my fault Mr.. Five-star chef" she said with a smile.

"I'm not the one who forgot to set the timer," he sarcastically lectured.

"I don't use timers… they're annoying, I just keep an eye on the clock"

"Yeah? How's that working for ya?" he said with a laugh.

She swatted him with the pillow "Shut up" she laughed.

"You almost burnt down the house," he said dramatically.

"Stop being so dramatic… it wasn't that bad" she smiled as she fanned the alarm.

He pointed to the black fries on top of the stove "Exhibit A"

"You know what!?" she said turning a round and heading toward him, but he caught on and ran the other way. She chased him into the living room. Once she caught up to him she began hitting him with the pillow, but he quickly won the pillow back and pinned her against the wall and just as he was about to kiss her the alarm started going off again "I need to go crack a window open" she said heading off to the kitchen.

When she re-entered the room Tony asked "you wanna go to my house to watch a movie? I have a huge collection."

"Sure, we can escape this smoke filled house" she said with a smile.

They soon headed out to Tony's car and got in and as Tony drove they listen to the radio and held hands as they drove which was becoming a habit.

_Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine  
I'm leavin' my life in your hands  
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind  
Risking it all in a glance  
And how you got me blind is still a mystery  
I can't get you out of my head  
Don't care what is written in your history  
As long as you're here with me _

I don't care who you are  
Where you're from  
What you did  
As long as you love me  
Who you are  
Where you're from  
Don't care what you did  
As long as you love me

Every little thing that you have said and done  
Feels like it's deep within me  
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run  
It seems like we're meant to be 

_I try to hide it so that no one knows_

_But I guess it shows when you look into my eyes_

_What you did and where you're comin from_

_I don't care_

_As long as you love me baby_

_

* * *

I am actually moving right now and school with midterms is getting kind of hectic so I am going to post once a week now, once I get it together I will go back to twice a week but for now I'm going to slow down to one per week._

_Thank you to all the people who have been reviewing, reviews are what make it worth it to write and without them there's not much encouragement to write so if your reading please please PLEASE review… it means so much to me and it makes it all worth it….even if your review is as simple as a smiley face or one or two words…just let me know I have people out there actually reading this :)_


	20. Chapter 20 I'll Be

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Edwin McCain_)

Chapter 20

"You know I never mentioned this, but I really like your house" Michelle said looking around as she walked into his living room.

"Thanks" he said hanging up her coat. "Feel free to pick out a movie from under the TV, you want some coffee?"

"Geez Almeida you're a caffeine junky" she said as she looked through his collection.

"Yeah, how can I not be with our kind of job?" he said with a chuckle "So do you want some?"

"Yes please" she called.

Within 20 minutes they were laying opposite ways on the couch watching the movie. As the movie played Tony watched Michelle's facial reactions. About a half an hour into the movie Michelle glanced sideways and caught him staring "The movies the other way Tony" she said with a smile.

"I know I'm just enjoying the scenery"

Michelle blushed "uh huh" she said re-directing her attention to the TV to avoid turning anymore red under his stare, but even when she wasn't looking at him she could feel his stare.

After a few minutes he looked back at the TV easing her of her stress as the movie continued.

By the time the movie was over Michelle had fallen asleep 'She had a long day' Tony decided. Thinking back to how terrified of her father's house she had been, and how much she had been holding in about Danny's suicide, her father, and her past. He gently stroked her temple brushing a curl out of her face. She looked so relaxed and content it was amazing that she even sane with how much she had been through.

He would make it better.

He decided to make her dinner. He headed into the kitchen to start cooking his best meal, chicken Parmesan.

_(An hour later)_

Michelle awoke to a mouthwatering smell coming from the kitchen. She instinctually followed the smell into the kitchen and found Tony singing softly as he grated some cheese. His back was turned the other way and he didn't notice her standing there so he continued to sing quietly. Michelle leaned against the wall and listened to his singing trying to figure out what song it was. It sounded familiar, and then she remembered the words to the song he was singing…

_The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful  
Stop me and steal my breath  
Emeralds from mountains thrust towards the sky  
Never revealing their depth  
Tell me that we belong together  
Dress it up with the trappings of love  
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips  
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above_

_I'll Be your cryin' shoulder  
I'll Be love suicide  
I'll Be better when I'm older  
I'll Be the greatest fan of your life_

_Rain falls angry on the tin roof  
As we lie awake in my bed  
You're My Survival, You're My Living Proof  
My love is alive and not dead _

_I've dropped out, burned up, fought my way back from the dead  
Tuned in, turned on, remembered the things you said _

_I'll Be your cryin' shoulder  
I'll Be love suicide  
I'll Be better when I'm older-_

She smiled at the words. Just then he spun around to set something on the table and his jaw dropped in embarrassment "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear the second verse, chorus and refrain"

He smiled and looked down "I like that song"

"You're not finished" she said, he looked at her questioningly "You never sang the last line"

"You want me to finish?"

"You did the entire rest of the song," she said with a smile.

So he sang quietly "I'll be the greatest fan of your life" He reached over and pulled her face in for a kiss. As he kissed her his hands began to wonder but she took a step back after a minute "Your chicken's gonna burn"

"Ok" he turned around and headed back to the stove.

She felt bad so she started talking lightly "So your what? A five-star chef?"

"Not exactly" he said with a smile "I just like cooking, and I guess I've gotten pretty good…. Well you can tell me"

"Ok" she said

"I hope I made enough," he said

"I eat a lot," she said

"Yeah I kinda noticed," he said with a half-smile "Ms five pieces of pizza"

She slapped him on the arm "Hey"

"No trust me its not a bad thing, the more you eat, the more I get to practice my cooking… it just kind of amazes me that you can eat so much and still be the farthest thing from fat that I've ever seen"

She blushed "My mom was the same way she ate pretty well, and had two kids and she still…" Michelle said shaking her head. She looked up at Tony "she was lucky"

"Well it looks to me like you have the lucky gene for a nice figure" This made her blush even more. "I make you turn red a lot don't I?" he said with a chuckle.

"I'm not used to all these compliments," she said.

"I don't see how," he said putting the finishing touches on the meal.

"How what?" she asked.

He set the dinner plates down on the table and looked up at her "How a beautiful woman like you has gone all her life and is not used to being complimented, because I can't see how you wouldn't get that all the time."

She turned even redder and nervously smiled. "Yeah well I guess"

"I mean you realize how beautiful you are right?"

"I…umm…." She stuttered

"Are you kidding me?" he said "He never told you?" He set the plates and silverware down "When I met you the first thing I thought was 'Oh great she's gorgeous'. I was sure that even if I tried to date you I would never be able to because there would be a million other men on your tail."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, so just in case there is any doubt whatsoever in your mind I'm going to clear it up right now." He took a step toward her and cupped her face with his hands "Michelle you are the most angelic, stunning woman I have ever seen"

She locked eyes with him as a single tear slid down her cheek. She choked lightly "thank you"

He kissed the tear "I love you"

(Half an hour later)

"Wow Tony that was great!" she commented as she wiped her mouth.

"I could tell you liked it… Damn you out-ate me again!"

She smiled. Just then Michelle's phone rang form the other room. "Excuse Me," she said getting up. "Dessler"

"Hi Michelle sorry to bother you, but do you remember that programming file I had trouble opening a few days ago?"

"Yeah the CPBs" she said.

"They are not working again, and I've tried all the ways you showed me… is there anyway you can stop by really fast and help me, it's important"

Michelle sighed, "Yeah, I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"CTU?" Tony asked knowingly as he scrubbed a pan.

"Sadly" she said.

"It's alright," he said.

"So, umm do you want to do something tomorrow?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'll give you a call first thing tomorrow morning" he said leaning over to give her a kiss.

"Bye love you," he said.

"I love you," she said, smiling at him as she turned to leave.

Her head was in the clouds as she left. Once she was out his door she called for a cab because her car was still at CTU. She stood out in the cold for five minutes while she waited for the cab, she knew Tony would have wanted her to come inside rather than stand out in the cold, but for once she was actually enjoying the chill of the night.

About 15 minutes later Michelle walked into the section of CTU that was still partially in good condition, where they had set up all the Tech rooms. She walked into the room to find Carrie helping Jeff with the software. "Oh hey Michelle" he said. "I should have called you and told you not to come. Carrie overheard me on the phone with you and decided she would help me."

This made Michelle mad, Jeff had pulled her out into the cold during one of the best nights of her life for absolutely no reason and now she was staring at the woman she hated. "It seems fitting that she would help you unlock the indexing functioning that she incorrectly installed on it, which locks the program, but doesn't unlock correctly" Jeff opened the files and headed out of the room. Muttering his thanks to both Michelle and Carrie.

"There was a lot going on it was a simple coding error"

"It wasn't a priority to be locking out of my own software protocols, in fact it was not your place at all, no excuse"

"And what was your excuse for that little make-out session with Tony?"

Michelle stared her dead in the eye "that is none of your business"

"I'm just trying to build an honest reputation and your sleeping with your boss, that bothers me… that you get the advantage because you know how to play the vulnerability card."

"For your information I'm not sleeping with him so their goes your entire theory so are you ready to go back to living your own life now? Leave mine the hell alone!" she turning to leave.

"That sucks for you, because if you're with him but not giving him what a man wants he'll find somewhere else to get it"

"Not everyone thinks the way you do"

"Oh, you'd be surprised" she said wickedly.

(Meanwhile)

Tony finished loading the dishwasher as the doorbell rang. It had started raining he noticed. He opened the door to his younger sister Gina. She was soaking wet and looked terrified. "Gina? You must be freezing! Come in"

"Tony I'm so sorry" she said starting to cry as she held onto him tightly. He wet hair soaked his shirt. "Shh what's wrong?"

"I'm pregnant," she cried.

His jaw dropped. He had warned her so many times. He had told her and she hadn't listened. But he couldn't bring himself to be angry. "Come on lets get you dried off your gonna get sick"

"Okay"

"Here how about you head in and take shower, get warmed up and I'll bring you some sweats"

"Thank you" she said.

"Sure"

(Meanwhile)

Michelle was furious. She didn't hate many people, but Carrie… there was a person she hated. Michelle got out to the garage and reached inside her purse only to find she had left her keys at Tony's house. "Crap" she muttered, "I need those to get into my house too." she dialed for a cab.

(Meanwhile)

It had been 10 minutes since Gina had disappeared into the bathroom, but Tony hadn't moved. Pictures in his head of Gina as an innocent little kid, his little sister kept flashing through his head. She seemed so young to him, now she was pregnant. He couldn't get it through his head. 'She's an adult, adults make these kinds of mistakes' he told himself. 'She needs you, keep your head together'. He shivered involuntarily. His shirt was completely soaked. He peeled it off and threw it on the couch and sat on the back of the couch.

Just then Gina emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel. "Clothes?" she said walking up to him.

"Yeah, sorry about that"

"You haven't moved" she commented stepping closer to him so he was within arms reach.

"Yeah, I'm just digesting this all" he said scratching the side of his face

"I messed up big time," she said looking down. He lifted her chin but before he could talk his sister pointed toward the front glass door. "Who's that?"

Tony turned around to see Michelle standing at the door with her jaw dropped as tears started rolling down her face at the sight of Tony with another woman, not knowing who it was. "Michelle" he whispered as he jumped up and ran toward the door. He ran out the door calling her name, but she had told the cab to wait and it was already speeding away by the time he got to it.

He stood there in the ice-cold rain wondering if he would ever see her again.


	21. Chapter 21 Crashed

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Daughtry_)

Chapter 21

Michelle's mind was completely blank. As the cab speed through the rainy streets Michelle found that she couldn't even complete a thought. She handed the cab driver the money and headed into her house using the hide-a-key she had forgotten about in what seemed like a millisecond. Before she knew it she was sitting on her bed. The image of Tony with that girl kept flashing through her mind.

'I told him I loved him'

Her first thought since she had looked through the front door. She had been so afraid, afraid that when she told him she loved him, he wouldn't love her back. That had seemed like the worst possible thing that could happen.

It wasn't.

This was worse…the worst in fact…he had been…well… 'Had he slept with her?' she wondered. She immediately began analyzing in her mind the scene 'She was young and pretty… only wearing a towel…in his house…he didn't think I'd be there…Carrie said that if I- stop – since when does Carrie have any influence? She was wrong…maybe, what if he wasn't with her? Who else could it has been? His mother? Probably not. What other woman would he be that close to? Her head was spinning…it was her fault…he let her in…let him get close enough to hurt her like this.

_(Meanwhile)_

He knew exactly what she was thinking and he couldn't blame her. 'Man that must've looked bad' He had been holding her chin up, she was in a towel, Michelle had never met her… she looked mortified. The look on her face was burnt into his brain. He had promised to stop the hurt…not cause it.

"Was that your girlfriend or something?" she asked.

"Something" he muttered deep in thought as he headed to his room. He headed over to his dresser and tossed her some sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend," she said.

"I was trying," he said turning around.

"To impress her?" Gina asked trying desperately to understand.

"To help her trust me." He sat on his bed and dropped his head into his hands. "She's been through so much."

Gina sat down next to him on the bed.

"She hasn't deserved it either; she let me in. She was telling me things she'd never told other people."

She nodded her head signaling she was listening.

"She usually is in a good mood, but deep down I know she's hurting but even through that I see a glimmer of who she really is."

Gina smiled a little.

"Through the heartache and crying I can see it in her eyes… she's not a sad person in general, she's not one of those train wrecks that always has issues…. she's not like that…she's lighthearted, funny and cute… but now I pretty much destroyed that"

"Call her" Gina said reaching the phone.

"I don't even know what to say yet… give me a minute"

"Just say what you mean"

Tony took the phone and dialed her number. He listened hopefully to the ringing…until he got her answering machine. He tried four times with no answer. "I have to fix this" he said slipping on his jacket "Help yourself to anything, I'll be back soon I promise"

"I just need a place to stay, we'll talk later," she said.

"Ok" he said heading to the car.

_Well I was moving at the speed of sound._

_Head-spinning, couldn't find my way around, and_

_Didn't know that I was going down._

_Yeah, yeah._

_Where I've been, well it's all a blur._

_What I was looking for, I'm not sure._

_Too late and didn't see it coming._

_Yeah, yeah._

_Somehow, I couldn't stop myself._

_I just wanted to know how it felt._

_Too strong, I couldn't hold on._

_Yeah, yeah._

_Now I'm just tryin' to make some sense_

_Out of how and why this happened._

_Where we're heading, there's just no knowing._

_Yeah, yeah._

_And then I crashed into you,_

_And I went up in flames._

_Could've been the death of me,_

_But then you breathed your breath in me._

_And I crashed into you,_

_Like a runaway train._

_You will consume me,_

_But I can't walk away._

_From your face, your eyes_

_Are burning to me._

_You saved me, you gave me_

_Just what I need._

_Oh, just what I need._

_And then I crashed into you,_

_And then I crashed into you,_

_And then I crashed into you,_

_And then I crashed into you,_

_And I crashed into you,_

_Like a runaway train._

_You will consume me,_

_But I can't walk away._

She heard a knock at the door. She headed over wiped her eye and opened it. "Michelle-"

He said her name and it made her want to cry but she didn't she stood there at stared at him.

"She's my sister Gina" he said not knowing how else to break it to her then his mouth started moving fast as he nervously blurted "Honestly… she was having some problem and she was all wet and I told her to take a shower cause I didn't want her to get sick and-"

She stepped forward and fell into his arms. "Thank you" she whispered as she fought back her tears. "I'm so sorry, I just need my keys…and Carrie said-"

"It's ok," he said holding her.

"I should've trusted you it's just… men in my life… it's my fault"

"It's not"

"Come in" she offered

"It's not your fault… it's natural for you to have a hard time trusting men.. and it's not just you… the only reason I didn't lunge at you the first second I saw you was because I immediately didn't trust you"

"Why?"

"Because you were a woman…from my job… that was pretty…well gorgeous, but-"

A half-smile appeared on her face and she turned a little red. "So it's ok?" she asked becoming more serious.

"It's perfectly ok," he said hugging her.

After they broke apart Michelle asked "So your sister's in town.

"Yeah, well she doesn't live too far, but she's busy with college and I don't see her too often.

"So did you know she was coming?"

"No this was just as much a surprise to me as it was to you"

"I think I was more surprised"

"Wait until you hear why she came" he said with a smile.

_Sorry that was kinda short, the next one will make up for it :)_


	22. Chapter 22 Some Hearts

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Carrie Underwood_)

Chapter 22

"You came in late last night," Gina said with a smirk as Tony sauntered into the kitchen the next morning. "What were you and your girlfriend up to Tony?" she asked as she watched him pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Talking about you" he said with a smile as he sat down.

"Oh really? Because I think you were doing a little more than talking," she said with a smile as she sipped her own coffee.

"You'd be surprised"

She raised her eyebrows "Would I?"

"I think you'd be very interested to know that I setting a great example for you." He said adding stirring his coffee.

"Wow, how long have you two been together, must not have been that long if you're still… such a good example"

"I've known her for about a year, and I guess you can say we've been together….since last week"

"Hmm, I give it another week" she said.

"Bet me" he said putting out his hand.

"Ok for what?" she said putting her hand up but not taking his yet.

"Until I do….you don't" he said with a half-smile.

"What?" she said tilting her head to the side.

"As long as Michelle and I last you keep your pants on"

"Tony!" she said slapping him with a shocked smile.

"Not man enough?" he challenged with a cocky grin.

"You got a deal" she said shaking his hand and then muttered "It's not like I'm gonna get anything in my current condition anyway."

"Hey" he said comfortingly grabbing her hand "We'll get through this…ok?"

"Alright" she said a little more seriously.

_(Meanwhile)_

When Michelle had fallen asleep Tony had been right next to her on the couch. Now she was snuggly tucked under her blankets in her bed and Tony was no where to be found. She groaned and rolled over. She heard a crinkle under her and reached under her shoulder and found a note…

_Good Morning Sweetheart!_

_I hope you slept well. I'm so sorry I had to leave, I didn't want to leave my sister alone all night, but I didn't want to wake you so I carried you up to bed. By the way you look absolutely adorable when your asleep… have I ever told you that? _

_Anyway see you soon! Just give me a call!_

_I love you,_

Tony:) 

Michelle smiled brightly at the note. After re-reading it nine times she folded it up and put it under her pillow so she could read it again later. She rolled out of bed and headed off to get dressed.

_I've never been the kind that you'd call lucky_

_Always stumbling around in circles_

_But I must've stumbled into something_

_Look at me_

_Am I really alone with you?_

_I wake up feeling like my life's worth living_

_Can't recall when I last felt that way_

_I guess it must be all this love your giving_

_Never knew_

_Never knew_

_It could be like this_

_But I guess_

_Some hearts_

_They just get all the right breaks_

_Some hearts have the stars on their side_

_Some hearts_

_They just have it so easy_

_Some hearts just get lucky sometimes_

_Some hearts just get lucky, lucky sometimes_

_Now who'd have thought someone like you could love me_

_You're the last thing my heart expected_

_Who'd have though I'd ever find somebody?_

_Someone who_

_Someone who_

_Makes me feel like this_

_Even hearts like mine_

_Get lucky_

_Lucky sometimes_

(Meanwhile)

"So tell me about her" Gina said as she ate. They were at a small diner and they had just received their food.

"Michelle?" Tony asked.

"Yeah" Gina said "All I know is she's a really nice person, who's had some hard times, but deep down is fun-loving"

"You woman really pick up on this stuff don't you"

"It's what we do best," she said twirling her spaghetti around her fork.

"She is smart… really smart, at work she's professional, and a very hard worker." He said.

"Oh you work with her?"

"Yeah" he said, deciding to leave out the fact that he was her boss for now.

"That's cool"

"I love it, I get to see her every day." He said with a smile.

"Ok so she's intelligent, professional, and…" she said egging him on.

"But outside of work she's whole other person. I mean lately she's been going through some tough stuff, but outside of that she's…. just… I don't know…. It's like she lights up a room with her smile and she's fun to hang out with"

As Gina watched him get excited as he talked she commented "Your eyes light up when you talk about her"

He looked up "I love her"

Gina's jaw dropped "Wow, already?"

"Without a doubt"

"Aww that's great… by any chance do you have a picture of her?" she asked with a girlish smile.

"No actually I don't," he said making a mental note to get a picture of her for his wallet.

"So what does she look like?"

Tony smiled "She umm…. She has auburn colored curly hair. She usually wears her hair up, but few curls that are too short fall around her face. She has perfect skin and the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen in my life." He paused "When I look into her eyes I can usually just see how she is feeling… it's amazing."

Gina's eyes were slightly watery "I'm so happy for you"

Just then Tony's phone rang "Almeida" he said robotically.

"Hey it's me," an angelic voice said.

"Hey sweetheart how ya doing?" he asked as he saw Gina smirk.

"Ok, thanks for last night" she said.

"Your welcome… the couch didn't look good enough so… ya' know"

"Yeah it gets chilly down there during the night"

"So did you get my note?" he said with a slight smile.

"I loved it…" she paused and turned a little red "I read it like a million times" she mumbled with a smile.

"I meant every word," he said. She said nothing "Your blushing aren't you?" She began laughing at this, "I knew it." He said with a chuckle.

"So what are you up to?" she asked lightly.

"Actually I'm at the diner with my sister" he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll let you go"

"Hey" he said stopping her. "Wanna meet up later"

"Definitely, how about in an hour?"

"Sounds great, my sister wants to meet you"

"I can't see why… that was probably one of the worst first impressions I ever gave someone" she said with a nervous laugh.

"She understands… she knows it wasn't your fault" he said. Gina stared at him questioningly.

"Okay, well I guess I'll see you soon…at your house?"

"Yeah"

"Alright… love you"

"Love you, bye" he said realizing how much he loved saying that phrase.

"So I get to meet her?" Gina said excitedly.

"Yeah"

"Ooo, I got to meet your girlfriend before mom! This is great!" She said and Tony chuckled.

"Mom is not gonna be happy to hear that"

_(Later)_

Tony opened the door to see Michelle. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a casual gray and blue halter-top. She stepped in and he surrounded her with his embrace. "It's soooo great to see you" he said, his voice muffled by her hair. She kicked the door shut gently as he held her tight, nuzzling his face into her neck and hair.

She put her hands on his head and rubbed it as she closed her eyes. "Same here"


	23. Chapter 23 On the Way Down

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Ryan Cabrera_)

Chapter 23

Tony kissed Michelle lightly on the forehead once they broke apart and led her into his living room where Gina was pretending to watch TV. "Gina this is Michelle"

Gina spun around and stood "Hi Michelle"

"Michelle this is my sister Gina" Tony said.

"Hey, it's nice to really meet you" Michelle said with a nervous smile.

"Same here, I've heard sooo much about you" Gina said.

"I'm sure," Michelle said glancing sideways at Tony who looked slightly embarrassed. "Do you want something to drink?" he asked Michelle.

"Sure, I'll have water" she said sitting down on the couch.

Tony headed off as Gina sat down and looked up at Michelle "So you work with Tony?"

"Yeah, I'm his Chief of Staff" Gina looked at her slightly confused so she continued.

"So your above him?"

"No it's actually the other way around" she said looking down for a second.

"Oh, so he's like just a level up? Or?"

"He's my direct boss, he's the Director"

"Wow, he didn't tell me that"

"Yeah" she looked back at the entrance to the kitchen and then looked back at Gina "Well it didn't exactly happen under the best of circumstances."

"Oh yeah, that bomb thing… my mom completely freaked… so wait he died in that?" she asked leaning closer and lowering her voice slightly.

"Yeah" she said looking down sadly.

"I'm sorry, were you friends with him?" she asked in a comforting tone.

Tony was just inside the kitchen wall listening, which the girls didn't realize, but Michelle continued. "We weren't really close friends or anything, but it's really sad because it wasn't until he was dying that I learned so much about him… he was a really nice man. It was a shame because he was coming to realize that he had wasted his life worrying about money instead of happiness… and I miss him because… well he's the reason I'm here"

"What do you mean?"

"I would have never had the courage to start something with Tony if it wasn't for him." She looked up at Gina, "Right before he died he said to me 'Don't wait around for your life to happen to you… find something that makes you happy and do it, because the rest is all just background noise' I'll never forge those words"

"Did he know what he was pointing you toward?" Gina said indicating toward the kitchen where Tony had gone.

"I think he did"

Tony decided to come out. Gina looked up "Took an awful long time for a glass of water"

"Yeah" he said sitting in the chair adjacent to where Michelle was. He handed her the water "You alright?"

"Yeah" she said taking a sip of the water.

"Aren't you gonna ask what we were talking about?" Gina asked knowing he had been listening, but wanting him to admit it.

"He knows" Michelle said.

Just then the phone rang. "I'll get that" Tony said reaching for the phone "Hello?" he always answered this way on his home phone.

"Anthony where is your sister!?" his mother said worriedly.

"She's here mom," Tony said.

"Let me speak to her I've been going crazy and I'm going to-"

"Here Gina, she's all yours" Tony said handing Gina the phone as his mother continued to rant on the phone.

Gina took the phone and stood "Mom?" she paused and winced "Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…. I wanted to visit him… I never see him anymore…he's limping a little but in one piece… no, no broken bones… I think he was telling the truth it's probably just a sprain…mom I'm not a doctor how should I know…." Gina looked over at her brother with an evil look

"Don't you dare" he muttered knowing exactly what she was thinking.

She smiled and put her hand over the phone "This is for not calling me and making fun of Grey's Anatomy." She turned back to the phone "Yeah mom" she stepped back so he couldn't reach her "Don't worry his girlfriend's taking care of him"

At this everyone in the room heard her say "What!?"

Gina moved the phone from her ear for a second then put it back to her ear "Yeah I'm sitting here with her… I just happened to be here and I got to meet her… yeah she's great… gorgeous… no she's smart…_why _would you ask me _that_? But it's a no, they haven't… he's setting a good example" at this Tony turned red. "A _gold-digger_?… mom since when do you use words like that?… no she's not… because they work at the same place, their can't be that much of a pay difference… Thanksgiving?… you'd have to ask Tony… I can't control him… ask him" she handed the phone to Tony.

"Hey mom" he pulled the phone away from his ear for about 15 seconds to let her vent and then returned it to his ear "I was going to let you meet her first… she just showed up mom what was I gonna do… no it's ok, I like it when she comes to visit it was just sudden but that's ok… yes mom…. I don't need your permission anymore to date… her name? Why?… I'm not trying to be secretive…. Ok fine," he smiled at the name looking up at her "it's Michelle… I think it's a beautiful name too… Thanksgiving?" he cocked his head sideways and looked at Michelle.

Without words she knew what he was asking "that's fine"

"Yeah mom we'll be there" he said "Ok then I guess I'll see you then, six o'clock… yes I'm bringing her isn't that the point?… I know how you think… yes I consulted her… don't worry…. Yes…. Ok… love you…bye mom" he hung up the phone and let out a huge breath "I love her but she can get so crazy" he turned to Gina "and ya just had to do that."

Gina began laughing, "Yup"

"Brat" he muttered turning to Michelle "Sorry about that"

"It's fine" she said waving it off.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Let's go see a movie" Gina interjected.

"Who invited you?" Tony said sarcastically.

"It's alright Tony, how often do you get to see your sister?" Michelle asked.

"Fine" Tony said hanging his head. "But" he said raising his head "This doesn't mean that since there's two of you that you can team up on me and out vote me so I get stuck seeing some sappy chick-flick"

Gina leaned over and whispered in Michelle ear "By the way he talks about you I'm sure he would if you wanted to" Michelle smiled.

"I heard that" Tony muttered as he went to get their coats.

_(Later)_

"I can't believe I'm going to see a chick-flick" Tony groaned as he walked down the hallway toward the theater carrying the popcorn and candy while Michelle he their drinks.

"Told ya," Gina said triumphantly leading the way to her favorite movie.

"Well I definitely didn't want to go see that gory horror film, we see enough of that stuff" Michelle said rolling her eyes.

"It's the action, the suspense the-" he stopped at the entrance to the movie theater when he looked at the crowd that filled the theater. They were all giggling teenagers who were chattering loudly waiting for the movie to start. "Why didn't you just get me a vasectomy? It would have been less painful" Michelle nudged him forward rolling her eyes again and beginning to regret letting Gina pick the movie.

"Just relax, hopefully they'll shut up once the movie starts"

"Not likely" he said plopping down in a seat "they'll all be giggling, whispering and by the end they'll be crying… people don't cry at the movies I go to" he took a sip of his soda "Aww yuck" he said looking down at it "They gave me Dr. Pepper, I hate Dr. Pepper"

"Here have some of my coke," she said handing him her drink as the lights dimmed and Michelle rummaged through her purse to put her phone on vibrate.

"Thanks" he whispered as the previews began and Tony prepared himself for at least an hour of hell, but it wasn't that bad… he'd probably just wind up staring at her the entire time.

By the time they were halfway through the movie Tony was asleep on Michelle shoulder. She was rubbing his head with one hand while the other was in his. Gina glanced over smiled, Michelle returned her smile and turned her attention back to the movie… too bad she had no idea what was going on in it.

When the credit began to roll and the girls applauded Tony opened his eyes. He looked up at Michelle who was looking back down at him with tears in her eyes "Oh no, don't tell me it got to you too" he groaned.

With a slight smile and sniffle she leaned down and muttered, "It wasn't the movie that made me cry" as she kissed him lightly.

Tony looked at her questioningly and sat up slowly rubbing his eyes "What's wrong?"

Gina who hadn't heard them talking cut in "Wasn't that adorable Michelle!"

Michelle turned around "Yeah"

"Well I have to go the bathroom before we leave," Gina announced as they headed out in to the hallway. Gina headed into the ladies room and Tony pulled Michelle to side "You ok?"

"Yeah" she said smiling softly at him.

"So why were you crying?" he asked caressing her cheek.

"Well the movie-" she started

"I knew it was the movie" he muttered.

"No listen, I didn't even really know what was going on in the movie, but toward the end I started paying attention… and toward the end the girl was drowning and the water was suffocating and she was sinking and she wasn't strong enough to fight it anymore, but the guy dived in and rescued her, even though he had no reason to… and I don't know it just reminded me-"

"Of us" he said reading her mind and kissing her tenderly.

_Sick and Tired of this world  
There's no more air  
Trippin' over myself  
Goin' nowhere  
Waiting  
Suffocating  
No direction  
And I took a diveI've been wondering why  
It's only me  
Have you always been inside  
Waiting to breathe  
It's alright  
Sunlight  
On my face  
I wake up and yeah, I'm alive _

I was so afraid  
Of going under  
But now  
The weight of the world  
Feels like nothing, no, nothing

Down, down, down  
You're all I wanted  
Down, down, down  
You're all I needed  
Down, down, down  
You're all I wanted  
You're all I needed

And I won't forget the way you loved me

All that I wanted  
All that I needed

On the way down  
I saw you  
And you saved me  
From myself  
And I won't forget  
The way you loved me  
On the way down  
I almost fell right through  
But I held onto you 

"Are you two ready?" Gina called with a smile. They broke apart and followed her. As they walked Gina hung back "See I told ya" she said smiling up at Michelle "You've got him wrapped around your finger… tight!"

"Not as much as I'm wrapped around his," she said reaching forward and grabbing his hand as they left the theater.

_Thank you everyone for all your wonderful reviews!!!_


	24. Chapter 24 I Could Not Ask For More

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Edwin McCain_)

Chapter 24

Tony, Michelle, and Gina arrived back at Tony's house that evening very tired. "Brr!" Tony growled as he pushed through the front door and flicked on the lights. Michelle and Gina follow shutting the door behind them. "It's so damn cold!" Tony said hanging his coat on the hook on the wall.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," Gina said hurrying down the hall.

"Geez didn't you just go at the theater?" Tony said. 'Must be a symptom of the pregnancy' he thought silently.

He turned to Michelle who was shivering and not taking off her coat. She was slightly shaky from the cold and she could see her flittering as she involuntarily chattered her teeth. "Here, lets get you warmed up."

He pulled her closer to him gently by her arm. And unzipped her coat. She took it off and handed it to him "Thank you" she said rubbing her hands together

He rubbed her shoulders "I'll get you the blanket"

She smiled and followed him. "So uh… when do you want me to, like go?" she asked awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" he said surprised.

"Well I know Gina came here to talk to you about ya know the pregnancy, and you guys haven't really had any time together, and I don't want to intrude on that…"

"You're not intruding. Honestly…" he glanced down the hallway and lowered his voice "I think she has been happy to have it off her mind"

"It must be so hard" she said thinking about it. "But soon it's gonna start catching up with her and I think she should be prepared"

"I know, but to be completely honest I'm very happy she felt comfortable coming to me, but I don't know how to help her… and I wish I did."

"You're good at helping people through their problems"

"I'm not," he said looking down.

Michelle's jaw dropped. "What about me?"

"What?"

"Look how you've pulled me out of all the terrible things I've been going through… you've been doing a great job."

"Yeah but that comes naturally, because with you… I don't know, I just say how I feel about you… tell you that I love you, remind you how strong and beautiful you are, and well I just… it's easier and I don't know why. I just instinctually know how to react to your problems, but with her it's awkward because I'm not sure how to help her… she's my little sister."

"You'd be surprised how alike women are when it really comes down to things like this," She said putting her hand on his shoulder. "Take her out for a day tomorrow, maybe some time together will help"

"Yeah" he said as she came down the hallway.

"So what's up?" Gina asked.

"Nothing, you look tired," he said.

"Exhausted" she said.

"Well get some sleep cause tomorrow we're going out" he said.

"All of us?" Gina asked excitedly.

"Well…" Tony started awkwardly.

"You and Tony should have some time to have some fun," Michelle said with a smile.

"Sounds cool" Gina said turning to head toward the guest room, but she turned around "But Michelle" Michelle looked up "Don't think this gets you off the hook cause I think you're pretty cool and I want to get to know you"

Michelle smiled "Definitely"

"Okay, goodnight" Gina said heading down the hallway.

"Opp that's it…my sister approves of you – you're in" he said jokingly.

"Glad I made the cut" she said with a smile slapping him on the arm.

"Don't worry babe, you were in way before she showed up" he said kissing her forehead.

"I love you," she said randomly.

"Love you too," he said thumbing her cheek. "You look tired"

"I am," she said yawning.

"You wanna stay?"

"You want me to?"

"You know I do… and for future reference, if you ever have a doubt the answer to that question is always 'yes'"

_(Later)_

Tony awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of footsteps. He was on his side with Michelle's arms wrapped securely around his waste and her head nuzzled in between the crook of his neck and his chest. His arms were around her protectively with on arm snaking under the small of her back holding her hip and the other over her shoulder cradling the back of her head with his cheek resting on her temple. As the steps in the hallway got closer he heard the door click open and the light from the hallway pour into the room. He opened his eyes slowly to see Gina standing there.

"Is Michelle here?" Gina asked timidly.

"Yeah" he said in a deep groggy voice.

"Where?" she squinted walking closer.

Tony moved his arm down a little, exposing the side of her face. "Wow, I couldn't even see her, she's like under you."

Tony smiled down at her "I don't even know how we get this entangled, I've never slept like this before I met her… I've always slept completely separate from anyone else in the bed… needed my own space, but with her it's like I can't get close enough."

"And you expect me to believe that you two still haven't-"

"I'm being completely honest with you, we really haven't… and it's been so sweet, with every other girl after the first kiss it's always seemed like… I don't know like I needed more to feel close to her, but with Michelle just the fact that she lets me touch her, hold her, she trusts me to listen to her problems… I could never imagine being any closer to anyone, and honestly sex… with her? I couldn't even imagine deserving it she's so perfect… I don't know how I could ever be good enough," he said stroking her face talking at his normal volume knowing full well that she was a deep sleeper.

The light reflecting from the hallway reflected in Gina's eyes, Tony could see that that were really watery "That's beautiful"

Tony turned red, realizing how much he had let loose in front of his sister in his groggy state "So what's up?"

"I'm um" she took a deep breath "having some girl problems and I was just wondering if…"

"Well-" Tony started to talk but Gina cut him off.

"Don't wake her up," she blurted loudly.

Michelle began to roll over at this loud outburst. In her half-sleep she took a deep breath and lazily opened her eyes. When they met the light she immediately squeezed them shut and rolled back into Tony's embrace. Once she was in Tony's shadow she opened them again. "Hey" she said in a light sleepy voice.

"Hey baby" he said with a smile.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing, Gina just wasn't feeling too good." He said pulling the hair out of her face.

Michelle rolled over a little to face Gina "Hey, you okay"

"I'm fine" she assured her.

"No really… what's wrong?" Michelle asked.

"I um, my …" Gina began awkwardly.

"C'mere" she said rolling out of the bed and sauntering out of the door with Gina following.

Tony watched the girls disappear into the hallway loving how adorable Michelle looked in his sweatpants that were way to big for her and his old Cub's t-shirt that almost reached her knees. He lay there thinking about how lucky he was to have Michelle until after about fifteen minutes when he fell asleep.

_(Later)_

Tony woke up to Michelle crawling back under his arm. "Hey sweetheart" he said. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just some cramps and spotting" she said. He looked at her questioningly as he opened his arms and she snuggled in to the position that she was starting to get used to. "It's girls stuff"

"See I don't know what any of this stuff is" he said, "I don't think I can do this, I don't know how to handle it."

She turned her head and looked him straight in the eye. "What if I was pregnant?"

"What?" he said.

"Let's do a little exercise," she said repositioning herself. "Practice on me"

"What?" he repeated.

"Pretend I'm really pregnant, react the way you would with me, you might find out its not as bad as you think, you said it comes naturally… lets try it"

Had they been paying attention they would have heard the footsteps in the hallway, but they didn't so Gina neared the other side of the closed door on her way to ask Michelle a question when she slowed down and began to listen tot the conversation going on, on the other side of the door. "Michelle-"

"Tony I'm pregnant" Michelle played.

Gina's jaw dropped and she hurried back to her room.

"Michelle…" Tony groaned.

"Seriously, do it for me" she pleaded. "I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do about it"

Tony took a deep breath "Whose is it?" he asked.

"Tony…"

"What? If you were pregnant that would be one of my first thoughts…"

"Well it would be impossible for me to be pregnant at this point that's why this is hypothetical-"

"Really?" he asked seriously.

"What?" she asked.

"You're-"

"Yes" she said, looking down and turning red even though he couldn't see it he knew she was.

"Hey, that's nothing to be ashamed of, it's beautiful" he pulled her chin up and kissed her forehead. "It makes you even more perfect"

She smiled "I love you"

"I love you so much" he said.

_Lying here with you,  
Listening to the rain,  
Smiling just to see, the smile upon your face,  
These are the moments,_

_I thank God that I'm alive,  
These are the moments, I'll remember all my life,  
I found all I've waited for,  
And I could not ask for more._

_Looking in your eyes,  
Seeing all I need,  
Everything you are, Is everything to me,  
These are the moments, I know heaven must exist,  
These are the moments, I know all I need is this,  
I have all I've waited for,  
And I could not ask for more._

_  
I could not ask for more than this time together,  
I could not ask for more than this time with you,  
Every prayer has been answered,  
Every dream I have's come true,  
And right here in this moment, Is right where I meant to be,  
Here with you, Here with me. . ._

_I could not ask for more than the love you gave me,  
'Coz it's all I've waited for . . .  
And I could not ask for more,  
I could not ask for more._

**Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers!!! Reviews are what make this worth doing:)**


	25. Chapter 25 You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

Chapter 25

Tony awoke to the buzzing sound of his phone vibrating against the side table. He reached over Michelle and picked up the phone "Almeida"

"Tony, this is Ryan Chappelle I need you at Division ASAP"

"Ah Ryan you said we had 3 weeks" he said groaning.

"I also told you to be on-call. It's a district meeting, be there at 9"

"How long is this gonna be?" Tony asked.

"As long as it takes Tony, you wanted the job of director so step up."

"Fine" Tony hung up and sunk back down into his previous sleeping position. He glanced over at the clock that read '7:52'. 'I need a shower' he thought.

Tony lay with Michelle for another half hour just staring at her and gently caressing her neck in deep thought in a lazy half-sleep. He sauntered off to the shower and began to get ready. Once he was out he got dressed and ready then headed out to the kitchen where he saw his sister. "Hey your up early" she said.

"Yeah, I have to go into work" he said sadly.

"That sucks, I guess we can't go out" she said looking down at her coffee.

"I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you" he said grabbing his to-go thermos. "I'll see you later" he said walking toward the door, but then he paused "Michelle's still sleeping, but don't worry about being quiet cause she's a heavy sleeper, she doesn't usually sleep in too late anyway."

"Ok bye" Gina said. She finished her coffee and headed into the living room to watch TV. As she was flipping through the channels she heard a phone ring. It was coming from Michelle's purse. She considered bringing it to Michelle but decided against waking her up. The phone stopped ringing eventually and Gina began flipping through the channels again. As if on cue the phone began ringing again and then on the third round Gina pulled the phone out and hurried to Tony's room. "Michelle?" She said calling Michelle from across the room. The phone stopped ringing but Gina continued to call Michelle. Gina walked to the side of the bed where Michelle was curled up, deeply submerged under the big puffy blankets. Gina tapped her shoulder and began yelling her names. At this Michelle began to slowly move. She lazily opened her eyes. Her eyes were blank and cloudy in a half-sleep "Where's Tony?" she whispered.

"He went to work," Gina said.

Michelle groaned and stretched a little "Ok"

"Your phone rang like 3 times" Gina said offering the phone.

Michelle's eyes widened when she saw whom the calls were from. 'Danny" she read. She quickly re-dialed the number. "Hello?" Danny answered.

"Hey Danny, is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's great. I hope I didn't freak you out, I was just excited you know cause I really wanted to tell you something."

"Ok, what's up?"

"Candi's gonna take me back!" he said excitedly.

"Danny that's wonderful!" she said starting to wake up.

"She said that I can live with her and the kids and that if things go good for the next year then maybe we can get re-married!"

"That's great! I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, how you been doing?"

"I've been great"

"Yeah? How's Jay doin?"

Michelle froze "I um… I wouldn't know"

"Why is that, you guys get into a fight?" he asked as Michelle glanced up at Gina who was standing next to her pretending to not be interested in the phone call, but after what she had heard Gina was in a major snooping mood.

"Yeah kinda" Michelle said looking down.

"Michelle, I'm a big believer in love these days and all I know is he's a good guy and whatever stupid little thing you got into a fight over is not even worth it… give him a chance, he loves you and he would never hurt you."

"He doesn't love me," Michelle said sadly as Gina listened. "Trust me"

"It might feel like that now, but…"

"No Danny really, the fight… it wasn't small, it was a huge thing and we're done"

"What do you mean what happened"

"Danny, I don't want to talk abo-" she started to say not wanting to say it to him and make him angry and not really wanting Gina to hear about it either.

"What Michelle tell me!" he said.

"I found out he was cheating on me, he had ALWAYS been cheating on me… right under my nose, while I was with him, in my house, in MY BED"

"Oh my god" Danny said shocked "Are you sure"

"Positive, when I got out of the hospital Tony brought me home and Jay didn't know I was out so he brought his girlfriend over. I met her… in my sleep"

"How could he!?" Danny yelled. "That's terrible! You shouldn't have to-"

"Don't worry Danny," she said, "I've already dealt with it"

"You told him off?"

"Slammed the door in his face" she said with a little pride.

"You okay now?"

"I'm fine… great actually"

"Well that's great to hear." He took a deep breath.

"You're getting really good at handling your anger" Michelle complimented.

"Yeah thanks, breathing really helps" he said "But anyway Michelle don't stop looking for love, cause ya know I'm a big believer in it these days" Michelle smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry I haven't, in fact I think I've found it"

_Every road that I've been down  
The only truth that I have found  
There's only one thing I can't live without  
You _

I was searching for something I thought I would never find  
Losing my mind  
In and out of bad love, I thought I was born to lose  
Then came you  
I thought I knew what the real thing was  
But nothing shakes me like your love does  
I've been hypnotized  
Now I realize

Every road that I've been down 

_The only truth that I have found_

_There's only one thing I can't live without_

_You _

Every time I get lost in a temperamental mood  
You still stay cool  
Just when I think that this life's about to drive me insane  
You take the reins  
Every time I feel I'm drifting off course  
You're my compass, you're my one true north  
In a mixed up world  
You make sense to me girl

Yeah, every road girl  
Leads me to you  
And baby, that's all I need to know

_  
Every road that I've been down in my life  
Every time I feel drifting off  
Every road that I've been down in my life  
Every road girl, leads me to you  
Yes it did, yes it did  
Every road girl  
Every road leads me to you_

"Sorry about that" Michelle said snapping the phone shut a few minutes later.

"That's fine"

"So Tony had to got o work?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah"

"Did he say what for?"

"No, it's probably like top-secret I'm sure with your kinda job"

"It's not as interesting as it sounds he probably got sent to a district meeting which are about as fun as getting a root canal except a lot more painful"

Gina giggled "It just a shame cause we were gonna go out, I was looking forward to that"

"Well I still have the day off, wanna hang out with me?"

"That'd be cool!" she said.

"Alright, but we'll have to stop at my house so I can pick up some fresh clothes"

"That's fine, I'll get ready" Gina said hurrying out of the room.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony had never been this bored, he was pretty sure of that much. At this particular moment he was examining his fingerprints 'This one's a whorl, this one kinda looks like an arc…. Actually I think it a loop-' just then he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and read the text message…

"'I'm kidnapping your sister for the day :)…That ok?' –Michelle" he read.

He smiled 'That sounds great sweetie' he replied. He didn't have a texting plan but she was worth the extra money.

(Meanwhile)

"Are you ready Gina?" Michelle called from the living room.

"Yup" she said heading to get her coat. They climbed into Michelle's car. She moved her overnight bag from the passenger seat to the back seat and offered Gina the seat. Once they were both in Michelle started the car and pulled out of Tony's driveway. "I like your car" Gina commented.

"Thanks" Michelle said. "Do you have a car?"

"I had one but it broke down and it's still getting fixed so I took a cab here"

"Wow that fair must've been expensive" Michelle said.

"You should've called Tony he would've come to pick you up, save you some money"

"I don't know if his car would make it"

Michelle laughed "I would've lent him my car, but oh well… we'll make sure that you have a ride home"

"Thanks" she said. "Tony's probably is going to be wondering where we went when he gets home"

"Oh I text messaged him and told him that we were going out."

"You guys are so cute" Gina said with a smiled "Text messaging each other like teenagers"

"Hey let's get this straight, we are not old" Michelle said.

Gina laughed "Yeah, but if someone didn't know you they'd think you guys were married with the way you act toward each other." She said "And maybe someday they'll be right" she ended with a smile.

"Hopefully" Michelle said with a smile.

**Thank you for all your wonderful reviews!**


	26. Chapter 26 Better Half

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Keith Urban_)

Chapter 26

They walked into Michelle's house. "Wow this is nice" Gina commented.

"Thank you" Michelle said faking a smile. Michelle actually used to love her house, but couldn't stand it anymore. All she saw when she walked through the house was her sore memories of Jay, and all the hard times she had gone through in that place. "I'll be right back," Michelle said as she headed to her least favorite room, the bedroom.

Gina looked around the living room. It was nice and modern. It was tastefully decorated but she couldn't find any pictures around, it seemed impersonal. She noticed a few pillows and blankets on the couch, it looked like someone had slept there 'Probably Tony' she thought.

Michelle returned with her bag filled with fresh clothes. "Ok ready?"

"Yeah" Gina said following her out.

"So where did you want to go?" Michelle asked as she started the car.

"I don't know, maybe clothes shopping?"

"Sounds great" Michelle smiled.

The two girls headed toward the mall. They entered a clothing stores. "So what do you need?"

Gina thought for a second "I guess we need to get maternity clothes" Gina said with a smile. In her mind Michelle questioned Gina's use of the word "we" but brushed it off. "I'm so glad we are doing this together" Gina said as they walked through the aisles.

Again Michelle wondered, but let it go "Yeah I love to shop"

The girls spent 45 minutes picking out plenty of nice maternity shirts and sweaters for Gina. "I love your taste" Gina said.

"I think this gray and pink one looks great on you" Michelle said holding up on fo the shirts.

"Thanks" she said going back into the dressing room. "So are you gonna get anything?" Gina asked from behind the wall. Michelle scrunched her eyebrows "No I'm good"

"You sure?"

"Yeah" she said taking out her phone as she received a text message.

'I hate Ryan Chappelle –Tony' Michelle laughed and typed back.

'Join the club:), how much longer do you think the meeting will be? –Michelle'

She waited a minute, and then her phone vibrated. 'Could be an hour… we are only half way down the agenda list -Tony'

'I miss you -Michelle' Gina emerged from the fitting room and Michelle took the shirts that didn't fit from her, but as she did she dropped one. "Crap" she said setting down her phone on the bench. "Here I'll take these back she said heading out into the store.

Gina sat on the bench and waiting. She heard Michelle phone vibrate and opened it to read the message. 'I miss you too sweetheart, love you, ttyl -Tony'

"Aww" she muttered putting the phone back.

Michelle returned a minute later "Try this one" she said handing her a smaller size.

"Ok," she said taking the shirt "By the way you have a message"

_Car door slams_

_It's been a long day at work_

_I'm out on the freeway_

And I'm wondering if its all worth the price that I pay 

_Sometimes it doesn't seem fair_

_I pull into the drive and your standing there_

_And you look at me_

_And give me that "Come here baby" smile_

"_It's all gonna be alright"_

_You take my hand_

_You pull me close and you hold me tight_

_And it's the sweet love that you give to me_

_It makes me believe that we can make it through anything_

_Cause when it all comes down_

_I'm feeling like I'll never last_

_I just lean on you_

_Cause baby you're my better half_

_They say behind every man is a good woman_

_But I think that's a lie_

_Cause when it comes to you I'd rather have you by my side_

_You don't know how much_

_I count on you to help me when_

_I've given everything I've got_

_And I just feel like giving in_

_And you take my hand_

_Yeah you pull me close and I understand that_

_It's the sweet love that you give to me_

_It makes me believe that we can make it through anything_

_Cause when it all comes down_

_I'm feeling like I'll never last_

_I just lean on you_

_Cause baby you're my better half_

"So have you thought of baby names?" Gina asked as they ate their lunch at the food court.

"All my life I've been coming up with names for when I have children" Michelle said with a smile.

"I was thinking about Melony if it's a girl and Jonathan if it's a boy." Gina said.

"So you're having the baby?" Michelle asked.

"I think so," Gina said looking down at her food. "I don't think I could go through an abortion" she said starting to smile a little "and plus, it's kind of exciting"

Michelle smiled "Yeah"

"This is gonna be so fun" Gina said "Our babies are gonna be like best friends!"

"Wh?-"Michelle started to say.

"Cause they'll be about the same age cause our due dates are probably within a month of each other"

"Due date?" Michelle asked choking on her food.

"Yeah!" She said "When are you due?!"

"I'm not" Michelle coughed the piece of chicken out of her throat "I'm not pregnant"

Gina's face dropped "you're not?

"No, where's you get that idea?" Michelle asked still coughing.

"Well last night I was coming to ask you a question, and-"

Michelle realized what she meant "How much of that did you hear?"

"Just the pregnancy thing… then I bolted" she said. "Why? Was it true?"

"What?" Michelle asked, wanting her to clarify so she wouldn't give anything Gina didn't know away.

"About you being pregnant… cause it's ok… I won't tell mom" Gina said leaning in.

"No, I'm not pregnant… really" she said wiping her mouth.

"Oh… you sure?" Gina said.

"Yes"

_Sorry this one's kinda short, I have a huge set of standardized testing this week which has given me no time to write, but I will make it up in the next chapter._

_Thank you to all my reviewers!!_


	27. Chapter 27 A Woman in Love

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Ronnie Milsap_)

Chapter 27

Michelle and Gina finished their lunch and decided to wander through the mall. As they walked they spotted the Bath and Body store and headed in. They made their way through the store smelling and trying different lotions. Michelle and Gina picked out a few and headed to the register. As they stood in line Gina looked around and spotted a man staring at Michelle "Hey Michelle, don't look now but that guy over there is totally checking you out." Gina whispered.

Michelle had been staring at the ceiling and she kept staring at it as she quietly replied "Yeah and look who he's standing next to"

Gina looked to the man's left to see what appeared to be his wife and two small children. "Wow" Gina said with a chuckle, "that's nice."

"Sweet isn't it?" Michelle said finally looking down from the ceiling.

"Must make his wife feel great," Gina said.

"Oh she finally noticed?" Michelle asked keeping her eyes looking forward.

The two girls heard a slapping sound and Gina turned back around "Oh yeah …she noticed"

Michelle bit her lip to hold back her laughter, stepping up to the counter to pay for the stuff. Gina went to move her stuff aside "Is this all together?" the cashier asked.

"Yes" Michelle said pulling out her credit card.

"What?" Gina said. "You don't have to do that"

"It's fine" Michelle said with a smile.

"Thank you" Gina said.

The women wandered further through the mall, as they passed a video game store Gina commented "Hey look it's that new WarTime game" she said stopping to read the sign "WarTime 3, battle of the Amazon… bet Tony can't wait to get his hands on that one, he loves those games."

"He does?" Michelle asked

"Yeah they actually have copies left, all the stores have been sold out for weeks-" Gina stopped and grabbed her stomach "I think I'm gonna puke" she said.

Michelle grabbed the bag of clothes out of her hand and grabbed her opposite shoulder "Lower your head and take deep breaths, come on follow me"

Michelle hurried Gina toward the restrooms. Gina was covering her mouth by the time they reached the ladies room. Once they were inside the restroom Gina hurried into one of the stalls and let go.

Michelle caught her breath and waited outside the stall door, once Gina slowed down Michelle went over and rubbed her back "Feel better now?"

Gina sat back "Yeah, it's so weird"

"Sorry but you're gonna have to get used to that" Michelle said with a small smile "It's usually in the morning"

"Ugh morning sickness" Gina said.

"I'm just glad we made it to the bathroom"

"This is good woman-bonding" Gina said with a smile.

"Definitely" Michelle said pulling Gina off the ground. "You ready to go home?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to take a nap" she said.

"Alright I just want to pick something up before we go" Michelle said with a smile.

When the girls got home they headed to the bedrooms Gina went into the guest room and Michelle headed into Tony's room, a nap sounded good to her.

_(An hour later)_

Tony hated his car. This was a simple fact. He had finally got it started, but he had to face the facts his car was getting old. 'I gotta remember to take it to the shop for a check-up…to make sure it's not gonna like die on me at any time soon' He pulled onto his street and his car died. "Damn it!" he yelled banging the steering wheel. He got out and began pushing his car down the street, he was only a couple blocks away and this wasn't the first time this had happened. He got his iPod from his truck turned the volume up and kept pushing.

He finally got his car to the driveway. He didn't notice Michelle's car because it was parked in the street, he returned to the driver's seat and put on the break as he listened to The Fray blasting on his iPod.

He took a look at he car and realized the problem. "A crap that gonna cost so much money" he said kicking the tire. Just as he did this, the brake slipped and the truck began to roll backward down the driveway. Tony quickly ran behind the car and slowed it down. He pushed back up the driveway cursing himself while banging on the car repeatedly in anger.

_(Meanwhile)_

Gina ran into Tony's room where Michelle was watching TV "Did you hear that?"

"What?" Michelle asked.

"Banging sound coming form downstairs…. sounds like someone's trying to break in"

Michelle immediately kicked into agent mode. She slid up against the wall as she entered the kitchen with Gina following closely behind. Michelle heard someone enter the front door "Tony?" she called.

She moved closer to where the person would soon be passing. "Tony!?" she yelled once more. She heard the person come around the bend and she immediately lunged on top of what she saw was a man, she didn't really look at him, she threw herself on top of him and closed her eyes as the fell.

She felt them hit the ground, she had a good position on him, she had successfully grabbed his shoulders in the split-second she had seen him and now she had him straddled. She opened her eyes.

"Ow" Tony said rubbing his head that had hit the floor

"Oh my god!" Michelle jumped realizing it was Tony.

"Nice to see you too" Tony said with a small smile.

"Oh, I'm so sorry honey" she cupping his face "Are you ok? You scared the hell out of me!"

"Yeah fine…" he said laying on his back starting to chuckle "Actually I was having a bad day… but now…" he broke out in laughter.

Michelle looked up at Gina who was gaping. "You alright?"

"I was so scared, why didn't you answer Tony!?" Gina's aid catching her breath.

Michelle picked up one of the earphones that had been in his ear "Because he was too busy listening to his iPod at like a million decibels!!"

"You're being dramatic" Tony said propping himself on his elbows.

"Tony I can hear it from over here and it's really loud" she said.

"Mom always yells at him for listening to his music too loud"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I leave you two women alone in my house and this is what happens?"

"Sorry" Michelle said kissing him on the forehead and helping him up.

"Hey, it's fine… most men would give their left arm to be pinned to the floor by a savage beautiful woman when they walk in their front door-"

Michelle's jaw dropped and she slapped him, then on second thought she slapped him again which he dodged and ran down the hall yelling, "Geez you did a sucky job stopping me! You didn't even put a dent in my back, I could steel whatever I wanted if I were a thief!"

"Oh I'll dent ya!" Michelle said running after him.

"Yeah right!"

"Oh I'm just getting warmed up!" She ran into the room and pushed him onto his bed. He fell over. She threw her self onto him, but a split second before she landed on top of him he rolled out of the way and she landed on the bed. The second she bounced on the mattress he flipped her over and used his arms to pin her arms and his right knee to pin her legs.

She was pinned. There was no denying it. "Gotcha…. warmed up yet?"

"Not yet"

"Really? You look pretty hot to me" She gave him an evil look and stuck her tongue out. "And that… is why men are better than women"

They heard a gasp from the door and looked over to see Gina who had just caught up to them "Michelle don't take that! Show him! Women are definitely superior!"

Michelle smiled at her with an evil look. She looked up at Tony and her face softened and she began laughing. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing I just love you" she said with a soft smile.

"Love you," he said.

"C'mere" she said softly.

"What?" he said keeping her pinned.

"Come here, closer" he lowered his head.

His lips met hers expecting a soft kiss, but instead she took his by surprise and kissed him passionately, making him go weak at which point she swung her leg sideways making him fall forward, while she flipped him by surprise and pinned him the exact same way. She took a breath… "Manipulation…. Learn it, live it, love it…. its a woman's number one weapon and a man's number one weakness"

She leaned down and kissed him being extra careful to keep a strong grip on him. She kissed him fiercely arousing him, and once she felt him getting into it she pulled away leaving a haunting light kiss. "Oh come on that's not fair" he whined.

"And _that_…"she said with a sweet smile "is why women are better than men"

"Because you're pretty??" Tony asked cheekily as she let him up.

"Because we have what you _want _and we can withhold it," she said heading out the door giving Gina a high-five.

"Trust me woman you're all I want," he said.

Michelle stopped and turned around to face him "He's catching on to this manipulation thing already"

Tony smiled and took a step toward her wrapping her in an embrace of love "I mean it"

_No matter what you do or say  
She's always got to have her way  
She'll bring you down just to cheer you up  
You never know with a woman in love._

_The minute you start holding on  
You'll turn around and she'll be gone  
This is very unpredictable stuff  
You never know with a woman in love._

_She's a lady, she's a child  
She'll make you crazy, she'll drive you wild  
Do you give in or do you just give up  
You never know with a woman in love.  
You never know with a woman in love._

_I oughta know 'cause I've held a few  
I've seen the things that a woman can do  
She'll play the game 'til you call her bluff  
Oh, You never know with a woman in love._

_Just when you think you've got it all together  
If you blink she'll change just like the weather, oh, oh, oh._

_No matter what you do or say  
She's always got to have her way  
This is very unpredictable stuff  
You never know with a woman in love._

_She's a lady, she's a child  
She'll make you crazy, she'll drive you wild  
Do you give in or do you just give up  
You never know with a woman in love.  
You never know with a woman in love._

The girls sat at the counter as Tony cooked dinner. Today he was making Michelle's favorite… tacos "Gina can you come over here and stir the meat"

"Sure" she said sauntering over dutifully to help her brother. "Give Michelle a job, she's sitting over there all by herself"

Tony stopped "Ok A) she's 6 feet away, it's not like she's out on an island and B) if I let her cook where are we gonna sleep tonight?"

Gina gasped and looked over at Michelle who had no reaction. "Michelle, you gonna let him say that?"

"It's true," she said with a smile.

As they ate they all talked about their day

"…Then I threw up in the toilet," Gina said finishing her story

"Nice" Tony said.

"That reminds me, I got something for you" Michelle said. "Remind me later and I'll give it to you"

"What kind of gift is this?" he asked.

She cocked her head sideways "A video game"

"No way… don't even tell me its-" he looked over at Gina. "You got me WarTime 3!" he concluded by the look on Gina's face.

"Your love life is over" Gina said shaking her head. "He's gonna be glued to that thing for like the rest of his life"

"No way!" Tony said with a huge smile "Where is it?!"

"You can have it later" Michelle said.

"Aww come on" he said "You're not gonna like withhold it forever are you?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Manipulation"

"He's catching on," Michelle said with a smile. "Who is better… men or women?"

"So it's my masculinity," He said, "That's what I have to give for that game"

"You'll still be a man," Michelle said.

"Just a smart one" Gina said with a giggle.

"Fine, you're superior!" he said, "Now where's the game?"

"Under your bed" she said as Tony ran for it.

"You know he just cheated his way through that, right? He said "you" were superior which I'm sure means you particularly and not women over men"

"I know, he gave me the half-right answer…" she said taking a sip of her drink.

"Michelle!" Tony yelled from the bedroom.

"….that's why I gave him the half-right hiding place"

**Thank you all for your reviews!! I absolutely love them!!!:)))**


	28. Chapter 28 I Wanna Know

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Joe_)

Chapter 28 

The next day was the CTU memorial service for all the people that had died. Michelle had been dreading this day for the past few days. She knew it was coming and she didn't want to go because she didn't want to have to re-live the pain she had finally managed to escape, but she had to go. She owed it to Paula and she definitely owed George. She lay awake thinking about it. The service began at 8, but it was only 5 so she lay there silently thinking about the day ahead. Tony rolled and laid his head on her stomach. She rubbed his head, but remembering he was a light sleeper instantly regretted it.

He slowly opened his eyes. "Hey"

"Go back to sleep" she said in a whisper.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, why?" she assured him.

"You're _never_ the first one up. I usually have to drag you out of bed."

"Just thinking," she said continuing to rub his head.

"About the funerals" he stated.

"Yeah" she said softly. "It's gonna be hard."

"I know, but I'll be right next to you"

"Thanks"

_(2 Hours Later)_

"Is it normal?" Tony asked Michelle as he shut her front door and headed into her living room.

"It should be, most women get morning sickness when they are pregnant, especially in the early stages"

"I just worry about her"

"She should probably see a doctor soon though, just to make sure everything's is going ok" Michelle said heading down the hallway into her bedroom.

"What kind of doctor?" Tony said following her.

"Obstetrician" She said pulling a pair of black pants out of her closet.

"Should I schedule her an appointment?" he asked

"Is she staying in this area her entire pregnancy?" Michelle asked picking a nice black and gray shirt.

"No, probably not… my mom will want her at home the second she finds out" he said with a sigh "she's gonna freak out"

"You should probably tell her soon" she said grabbing a few more things "The longer you wait the more angry she'll probably be"

"Yeah, you're right"

"I'm gonna take a shower" Michelle said, "help yourself to anything."

"Ok" he said heading out the bedroom door.

She walked into the bathroom and saw that the fresh towels she had left out before the kidnapping had been used. Two of them. Imagining what must've gone on in her shower she decided to take a shower in the other bathroom.

Tony spotted her heading down the hall to the other bathroom. "You okay?"

"Yeah just gonna use the other shower" she said heading in.

Tony wondered for a second about this but brushed it off. He got a glass of water and walked into her living room. Other than the blankets and pillow on the couch, the entire room smelled good like her and was completely immaculate. It was now that he noticed a very faint brown stain on the carpet. He ran his fingers over it. Someone had tried very hard to get it out, but because the carpet was so perfectly white it would always be there to some extent. 'How's that for symbolism' he thought.

A few minutes later she emerged from the shower with a towel wrapped around her. She came out, saw him, turned red and headed toward her room to get dressed. Tony smiled to himself 'She could walk around like that all day and not hear any objections from me'

A few minutes later she walked out into the living room with her hair slightly curly and damp falling all around her. She never really wore her hair down. He tried but couldn't think of a time when she had worn her hair down to work.

"I still have to do my hair, that ok?" She asked.

"Yeah go ahead, we have time," he said.

She hurried back into her room and he heard the sound of a blow-dryer start. When she was at his house she usually let her hair dry naturally. Tony sat down and began to watch TV. About 20 minutes later Michelle came hurrying down the hallway. He didn't see her but he heard her say, "Okay, I'm just about ready"

He turned around and looked at her and his jaw dropped. Her curls were completely gone and her hair was completely straight and falling around her head freely. As she searched through her purse she jerked her head to the side and her hair flicked backward out of her face to reveal her face. She had put some make-up on, he could tell. She didn't need it, but he wasn't so sure she believed that. "You straighten your hair?"

"Not often" she said looking up "It just kinda seems appropriate"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, we're going to a funeral and it's sad and I don't know curls just remind me of happiness and… never mind" she said continuing her search.

"No go ahead," he said.

"No it's stupid, it's just something I do"

"I wanna hear about it," He said walking up to her. "I love you and I want to know what you're thinking. I want to know everything about you…"

_It's amazing how you knock me off my feet, hmm  
Every time you come around me I get weak, oh yeah  
Nobody ever made me feel this way, oh  
You kiss my lips and then you take my breath away  
So I wanna know _

I wanna know what turns you on  
So I can be all that and more  
I'd like to know what makes you cry  
So I can be the one who always makes you smile

Girl he never understood what you were worth, hmm no  
And he never took the time to make it work  
(You deserve more loving, girl)  
Baby I'm the type of man to show concern, yes I do, oh  
Anyway that I can please you let me learn  
So I wanna know

Tell me what I gotta do to please you  
Baby anything you say I'll do  
Cause I only wanna make you happy  
From the bottom of my heart, it's true

I wish that I could take a journey through your mind, alright  
And find emotions that you always try to hide babe, oh  
I do believe that there's a love you wanna share, oh, oh  
I'll take good care of you lady, have no fear, oh  
So I wanna know

"Well, I don't know curls just remind me of happiness and well it's not a happy day." She said, she looked down "Sometimes when I'm upset or having a bad day I straighten my hair, it's good cause it kills some time that I would probably spend thinking about whatever is bothering me and it makes my hair a lot easier to deal with and I don't know it's just something I do…"

"Makes sense" he said with a smile. He kissed her on the forehead.

She smiled "So I'm not crazy?"

"You're not crazy"

_(Later)_

They were out of the house and on their way to the service by 7:30. As they rode in the car they held hands. This was a habit they were getting into that Tony enjoyed very much.

"What happens when we get there?" Michelle said after a few minutes of silence.

"What do you mean?" he asked glancing over at her.

"What happens if people see us getting out of the same car?"

"Do you want them to know?" he asked.

"I don't know, I don't think so," she said.

"Why?"

"They might think that you, well I…"

"Speak Michelle," he said with a chuckle.

"I don't know why I can't" she said frustrated. "I never have problems speaking, but when it comes to you I get so damn nervous"

"Especially when you talk about your feelings"

"Yeah" she said, "I feel like I can't speak, like there's a million way I wanna say it and I'm correcting myself and re-wording everything as I'm saying it."

"Relax sweetheart," he said stopping a stoplight. He turned to her "I love you and no matter how much you mess up what you're trying to say, no matter how many times you have to say it… I still love you and I want to hear what you have to say."

"I just don't want to say the wrong thing"

"You think I'll leave you if you say something the wrong way?" he said with a smile "Sorry but you can't shake me that easy" 

"I don't want to hurt you or make you think the wrong thing about my intentions."

"Do you love me?" he asked her knowing the answer.

"Yes, of course I do-"

"Ok" he said stopping her "That's all I need to know. Through anything you say, no matter what I will always remember that."

"Ok"

"And don't think it's just you" he said. "I get the same way, tongue-tied and frantic"

"Really?" she said with a small smile. 

"And I want you to know that through everything I do or say I love _you_"

She leaned over and kissed him "I know"

"Good" he said realizing the light was green. He began to drive again "now try that again, people at work might think…"

"That maybe I just got my promotion because of you"

"I never really thought of that" he said, "You mean the whole sleeping with the boss thing…"

"Yeah"

"You're right" he said "Most of them have just found out about your promotion or haven't even yet and they might think that"

"I don't want them to think that"

"I don't either" he said "I want them to have no doubt in their mind that you are a fully capable agent who got the job because you did a great job and you are fully qualified, because it's the truth"

"Thank you" she said.

"And with Carrie stirring up trouble..."

"You know when I went in to help the other day at CTU" Michelle said.

"Yeah"

"She was there and she said '_I'm just trying to build an honest reputation and your sleeping with your boss, that bothers me… that you get the advantage because you know how to play the vulnerability card._'

"She said that to you!?" Tony said getting angry.

"Yeah then I told her she was wrong and to leave me alone"

"What'd she say then?" he asked earnestly.

"Well," Michelle paused remembering what he'd said, "She told me that if I wasn't sleeping with you you'd find somewhere else to get it… I told her that not everyone thought the way she does, but that's what put that idea in my head when I went back to your house when Gina was there"

"Oh no" he said in surprise "I had no idea that had gone on, I mean I got why you the idea with me and Gina, but the fact that she said that… wow"

"But the whole vulnerability, sleeping with the boss thing… it gets too messy. I just don't want to have to face all that"

"Not to mention Ryan Chappelle would have a cow," he said. 

"He _frowns upon_ inter-office relationships," Michelle said in deep mocking voice.

"I think he _frowns upon_ just about everything"

Michelle giggled, "I don't think I've ever seen that man smile"

"That makes two of us"


	29. Chapter 29 Every Day

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

Chapter 29

Tony and Michelle were two of the first people to show up. It was bitterly cold outside. As they crossed the gravesite where the service was going to be held Tony wrapped his arm around Michelle for both comfort and warmth.

She didn't lean toward him like she usually did she stayed stiffly straight like a stone. They selected two seats and sat down to wait for the ceremony to start. They watched as other sad people filled the chairs surrounding them. They waved to their colleagues and sat quietly staring at the coffins in front of them. Michelle stayed completely silent with a blank look on her face as she stared at the ground

During the ceremony Tony kept a distance from Michelle. He wanted to give her some space to grieve and he also wanted to keep a distance in front of their colleagues. So far no one seemed to notice anything, which Tony was glad for. Tony didn't want anyone thinking less of Michelle for dating him.

Many people made speeches, as they did Michelle didn't cry she just watched intently with sad and understanding eyes that were always on the verge of crying. A time came when everyone stood and one by one laid a rose on the coffins. Tony placed one on Paula's while Michelle placed one on Kyle's, then after most people had finished and begun heading back to their cars Michelle walked over to George's coffin. She held a white rose in her hand. Her eyes were pointed in the direction of the coffin but he could tell she was off in space as she stood there silently. Her eyes were glassy and full of tears, but none had fallen yet.

He walked up behind her and noticing that only a few people remained, none of which he knew. All of their colleagues had left so Tony put his hand on her shoulder. At this small gesture a single tear rolled down Michelle's cheek. She then slowly set the rose on his coffin.

She stood there for another minute or so until Tony gave her shoulder a small squeeze. At this she turned around into his arms and hugged him tightly as another tear rolled down her cheek. He held onto her as the lowered the coffin into the ground.

Once the coffin was lowered Tony held Michelle as he led her to the car.

Once they were on the road Tony decided to see if he could get her to talk "How ya doin?"

"That was hard," she said in a crackly voice. She cleared her throat.

"You seemed to have handled it pretty well" he said giving her hand which he was holding as they drove a gentle squeeze.

"I don't like crying in front of people" she glanced over at him "…and its not because I have some issue with people thinking I'm weak for crying or whatever I just… don't feel comfortable or like…" she searched for the right word.

"Safe?" Tony tried

"Yeah" she said looking up at him.

He glanced over at him. "That's fine, as long as you have a place where you do feel safe to let that all go."

She sniffed "I do" she bringing his hand up to her and kissing it.

_You could've bowed out gracefully_

_But you didn't_

_You knew enough to know_

_To leave well enough alone_

_But you wouldn't_

_I drive myself crazy_

_Tryin' to stay out of my own way_

_The messes that I make_

_But my secrets are so safe_

_The only one who gets me_

_Yeah, you get me_

_It's amazing to me_

_How every day_

_Every day, every day_

_You save my life_

_I come around all broken down and_

_Crowded out_

_And you're comfort_

_Sometimes the place I go_

_Is so deep and dark and desperate_

_I don't know, I don't know_

_Sometimes I swear, I don't know if_

_I'm comin' or goin'_

_But you always say something_

_Without even knowin'_

_That I'm hangin' on to your words_

_With all of my might and it's alright_

_Yeah, I'm alright for one more night-_

Every day you save my life

When they arrived home Gina was watching TV. Michelle said hello quietly and headed for Tony's room. Tony followed close behind her motioning his head toward the bedroom. Gina nodded her head and turned back to the TV. A second later Tony poked his head back into the room "Is that Grey's Anatomy?" he asked in disgust.

"Shut-up" she said.

He chuckled and shook his head as he turned around and headed back toward the room. When he got in the room Michelle was taking off her sweater. Her arms were covered in goose bumps. He walked up behind her and surrounded her in his warmth. She laid her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes "I love you" she said.

"Love you too," he whispered kissing the bottom of her jaw.

"You mind if I lay down?" she asked with her eyes still shut.

"No its ok, come on" he said moving over to the bed with her. They both crawled up onto the bed. Tony pulled the thick comforter up and she crawled in right next him. He put her arm around her and rested his head right behind hers.

"I think I'm gonna fall asleep" she said quietly.

"Ok" he said kissing her shoulder. "What's Gina doing?"

"Watching Grey's Anatomy," he said with a chuckle.

"I'm missing it?" she asked.

"It's a re-run," he said.

"You should take her out today"

"Yeah, I owe her." he said "But I don't wanna leave you"

"It's ok, I'm probably gonna just sleep, you can go if you want"

"Ok, but not until you fall asleep" he said with a small smile.

She smiled "Deal"

Fifteen minutes later Michelle was sound asleep. Tony played with her hair for a while and then decided to get up. He carefully wrapped her in the comforter as he got up. Once he was completely off her she shifted onto he other side curling her legs up and pulling her arms into her chest. Tony smiled and carefully removed her shoes. He gave her a light kiss and headed out to the living room where Gina was still watching TV. "Hey wanna go out?" he asked tapping her on the shoulder.

She turned "What about Michelle?"

"She's asleep," he said.

"Does she know we're going?"

"Yeah" he said, "You want to go?"

"Yeah let me get my shoes," she said jumping off the couch and heading toward the guest room.

_(Later)_

It was the 7th frame and Tony was winning. Tony had always loved bowling. Their parents had taken them all the time when they were younger as a family activity. Gina was very competitive and unhappy she was losing, although she seemed sure she'd win. "You hungry?" Tony asked.

"Yeah" she said.

"This alley actually has decent snacks, you want to get some?"

"Sure" she said "I was something hot and salty."

"What is this? Freakin I Spy's _I Crave _pregnant woman version?" he said " 'I crave something sweet, salty, and crunchy with icing' " he mocked in a feminine voice. Gina began laughing hysterically. "Then if I come back with the wrong thing all hell breaks loose"

"Just get me a pretzels ok?"

"Ok" he said walking away.

He returned about five minutes later with two drinks, a pretzel and an order of nachos. "Thanks" Gina said receiving the pretzel.

"Your welcome" he said handing her a straw.

"Thanks for taking me out, it means a lot"

"Your welcome, I love hanging out with you but I can't take total credit for this" he said with a smile "it was Michelle's idea"

"She's awesome" Gina said.

"Yeah I love her," he said eating a nacho.

"At least now she has someone who takes care of her," Gina said.

"What do you mean?" Tony said.

"Well I heard about Michelle's old boyfriend" she replied.

"She told you?" Tony said a little surprised.

"No, I heard her on the phone with her brother." She said "What a jerk!"

"Yeah I know, you don't even know the half of it"

"I can't believe him, Michelle's so nice and really good looking. How could a man who has someone as perfect as her cheat on her?"

"What?!" Tony said in disbelief.

"What?"

"He was cheating on her too?!" he said angrily in a low voice.

"Yeah, she said that he had been cheating on her, he had ALWAYS been cheating on her… right under her nose, while she was with him, in her house, in her own _**bed…**_which explains why she can't stand to be in her house or even sleep in her bed…poor thing"

"I'll kill him," Tony said.

"Easy Tony, relax… that's not what she needs right now" she said "the one thing she kept saying during the phone call was how happy she was that it was over and that she was so much happier now."

Tony's facial expression softened a little at this. "I wont kill him now but I swear if I ever see him again I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself."

"That's understandable"

"I wonder why she didn't tell me" Tony wondered aloud.

"How much have you told her about Nina?" Gina said cautiously.

"Not much" he answered truthfully.

"Why?" she said.

"It's humiliating and it hurts, I don't want to re-live it," he said.

"Don't you think she feels the same way?"

Note: Thanks for being so patient about the last chapter, my puppy is doin gmuch better… her head is still quite swollen, but much better :)


	30. Chapter 30 This Kiss

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Faith Hill_)

Chapter 30

'Pink or brown? Hmmm… Pink or Brown' she thought, "What do you think?" Michelle said holding up the two tops in front of Tony.

"I think you should go just the way you are" he joked as she stood there in front of him in jeans and an undershirt.

"Then your parents will really think I'm a hooker," she said rolling her eyes and examining the shirts.

"Relax," he said snaking his arm around her waist. "Don't worry about what they think… it's me you're trying to impress" he smiled.

"Uh huh" she said sarcastically "And what do you think?" she stopped him "Not the undershirt"

"I agree," he said with a big smile.

"What?"

"I agree, you don't need the undershirt… in fact-" he began with a cheeky smile.

"Shut-up" she said. She threw the brown one at him "I'm wearing the pink one"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Bella?"

"Yes?" Tony's mom answered

"How many are coming?" Tony's father asked

"Ten" she said entering the dining room.

"How do you get ten?" he asked setting out the plates.

She put her hand on her head "Uh…Me, you, Jonathan, Rachel, Joe, Katie-"

"They are back together?"

"Yes" she said closing her eyes "Umm… how many was that?"

"6"

"Oh yeah let's see who's left… uh grandma, Gina, Tony and Michelle"

"Tony's girlfriend?" he asked

"Yeah"

"Looking forward to meeting her," he commented handing out the silverware.

"I hope she's as good as Gina says, if she turns out to be another back-stabbing-"

"Let's not jump to conclusions"

"I never even got to meet that other one…. That's why I'm so worried, I need to meet these women so I can warn him, cause I can tell what a woman's intentions are…. I read people."

"Ok, but go easy on her… by the way Gina talks about her she could be our new daughter-in-law"

_(Meanwhile)_

"I'm gonna miss you guys so much" Gina said sadly as she threw one of her bags into the trunk of Tony's car.

"Don't even start" Tony said putting her suitcase in.

Just then Michelle walked out of the house "I'm gonna miss you Gina!" she said sadly as she came across the yard.

"Here we go" Tony muttered walking around to the other side of the car.

"I know I was just telling Tony" Gina said hugging Michelle.

They pulled apart "So how do I look?" Michelle asked.

"Great, better than me"

"Could have been better if you had worn what I suggested," Tony said coming back around the car.

"What?" Gina asked

"Nothing, just Tony trying to be funny"

Tony went and locked the front door as the two women got in the car. Once they were all settled in the car, Tony started the engine and began driving. After a few minutes it began to rain and the sky darkened.

It was thundering and pouring rain as they exited the highway. They were about an hour into the ride and as they came closer to their destination Tony noticed Michelle fidgeting with the hand that was not holding his. "You okay?"

"Fine" she said.

"Yeah right… you look nervous"

"I am," she said.

"About my parents?" he asked.

"Just want to make a good impression, they say first impressions have a huge effect on what people think of you"

"Well you're funny, smart, caring, and drop-dead gorgeous… what's not to like?"

She smirked and turned a little red. "Why do you always do that?"

"What?" he asked with a crooked smile "Compliment you?"

"Yeah" she said.

"Because it's true and I'm not so sure you believe it" he said turning on his blinker "And by the way I don't plan on stopping any time soon"

She smiled "So you really think that they'll like me?"

"Positive, but if you don't relax I am gonna sit here naming all the good things about you until you relax" He threatened with a smile. Eh looked back, Gina was seemingly asleep, but he figured she was probably awake and faking it as usual. He glanced back at Michelle who was staring out the window. He looked in the reflection and could see the unease in her face. "So Michelle Dessler.."

She turned around "huh-?"

"You're a kick-ass agent, I love your curls,.." he glanced at her, she was now trying to hold back a huge grin "… you have a beautiful smile, you're a great kisser-"

Michelle quickly looked back at Gina then turned and slapped Tony "Stop it"

"- you're slightly violent but I like it, I actually find it a total turn on- owww Michelle assaulting the driver won't get you anywhere" he said rubbing his arm "you loving, great body, oww Michelle that hurts… you're strong oww-"

"I'm not nervous!"

"You're a terrible liar…. Which actually I think is cute in a kind of pathetic way…. Owww" Tony complained as he laughed. "I was definitely right about the strong part"

Michelle settled back into her seat "Don't forget it"

Tony chuckled "Should I keep-"

All of a sudden they heard a loud crash and the SUV began to shake a swerve. Gina jumped up "What's going on!"

Tony immediately let go of the gas and pulled the side of the road almost hitting another car put just barely missing it. Once they were on the side of the road he sat back. Michelle was panting and Gina was crying. "What the hell was that!?" Michelle said jumping out of the car. Tony quickly got out and followed her into the rain.

"A blow-out!" he yelled to her over the sound of the rain and the cars speeding by.

"Can you fix it?" she yelled back.

"Yeah, just get back in the car, I'll do it!" he said.

"No you'll need help, just let me tell Gina" she said.

While Michelle went to tell Gina what had happened Tony pulled out the kit. As he was lowering the tire from the underside of the car Michelle rejoined him. "It's ok Michelle I've got it…it's pouring rain and thunder go sit in the car, your gonna get sick!"

Just then the car shifted and began to roll. Tony jumped in front of it and held it back from rolling further. "Hurry Michelle! Put on the emergency brake! I forgot to!"

Michelle hurried over and did as Tony had said. "Ok, ready to jack it up?"

"Yeah" he said setting the jack in place and jacking it up. Michelle retrieved the wrench and began loosening the screws. They pulled the tire of and set the new one on. Once the tire was on Michelle began tightening the screws. As she did so a huge 18-wheeler came speeding down the road splashing a huge amount of mud all over the car and Michelle. She turned around slowly with her arms out and looked at the sky as a huge round of thunder crashed from the heavens.

Tony was doubled over in laughter as he tried to catch his breath and ask her if she was ok. "Are you………" he breathed deeply and tried to control his laughter " are you okay?"

She pouted at him "Now my shirt is brown"

He opened his arms and pulled her in for a hug as they both laughed hysterically. As she laughed and hugged him she managed to get out "Now… Now I totally look like crap," she laughed.

"Now see this is where we constantly disagree" he said holding her head "I think that as I stand here looking at you in the dark ad pouring rain completely covered in mud that you are the most stunning attractive woman in the world!" he said "And I know that right now somewhere underneath that slime you are blushing right now"

She leaned forward and kissed him, and as they kissed another SUV drove past splashing more mud on them, but they didn't even break the kiss.

_I don't want another heartbreak  
I don't need another turn to cry  
I don't want to learn the hard way  
Baby hello, oh no, goodbye  
But you got me like a rocket  
Shooting straight across the sky_

Cinderella said to Snow White  
"How does love get so off course  
All I wanted was a white knight  
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse  
Ride me off into the sunset  
Baby I'm forever yours"

It' s the way you love me  
It's a feeling like this  
It's centrifugal motion  
It's perpetual bliss  
It's that pivotal moment  
It's unthinkable  
This kiss, this kiss  
Unsinkable  
This kiss, this kiss

You can kiss me in the moonlight  
On the rooftop under the sky, oh  
You can kiss me with the windows open  
While the rain comes pourin' inside, oh  
Kiss me in sweet slow motion  
Let's let everything slide  
You got me floatin'  
You got me flyin'

"What the hell are you guys doin!?" Gina yelled from the car.

They slowly broke the kiss and smiled at each other as the rain continued to pour. "Ready to go meet my parents?"

"What do you think?"

"How can you possibly be nervous when you are going to be showing up looking this gorgeous?"

"Ok, but that sure as hell better not have been sarcasm," She said as they turned to head back to the car.


	31. Chapter 31 I'm Feeling You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Michelle Branch_)

Chapter 31

"I can't believe this" Michelle said as tried feverishly to clear her face of the mud.

"Here ya got some in your ear" Gina said taking a tissue from her purse.

Tony was still laughing as Michelle frustratedly said "This is just not coming off!" she turned to him "And will you quit laughing!"

He flashed her a smile as he pulled into the driveway of his parents' house. "Here we are"

Michelle was still staring at the mirror with a frown "I think my face is permanently stained brown"

"When we get inside you can wash up" he assured her.

"Fine" she said. Gina hurried across the lawn in the rain and ran up to the door, and realizing she forgot her keys in the car, rang the doorbell. Her mother opened the door "Gina! Come in, come in… where's Tony?"

Just then Tony climbed the 3 three stairs up onto the porch with Michelle holding his hand and following behind. "Oh no! What happened!?" she said with a gasp.

"Tony almost crashed the car and we had a blowout," Gina said.

"I'm fine ma, just some car trouble," he said pulling Michelle up the stairs.

"Oh no, look at you… you must be freezing come in" she said when she saw Michelle.

Tony's mom moved out of the doorway to allow Tony and Michelle in. "Mom this is Michelle" Tony said.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Almeida, I'm such a mess. I was helping Tony with the tire and a truck came by-"

"You had her help you in the pouring rain?!" Tony's mom scolded.

"No ma I told her she could go back to the car, but-"

Isabella noticed the rising goose bumps on Michelle arms "Let's get you into the shower you're gonna get sick… the both of you!"

She escorted them up to the bathrooms. Tony went to the guest bathroom and Michelle to the other. "Sorry about this, I hate to be-"

"It's fine dear, it's not your fault… here's a towel, you can use this bathroom," she said heading toward the stairs.

"Thank you" Michelle said.

Tony was finished his shower a few minutes later. He headed downstairs with fresh clothes from his bag, which he had brought in with him when they had first gotten in. He entered the living room to find his two brothers Jonathan and Joe. "Hey Tony!" they both said.

"Hey, how you guys doin?" he said with a smile shaking their hands.

"Great!" Jonathan said with a big smile "Hanna's finally pregnant!"

"That's great!" Tony said "How about you Joe?"

"My plan worked! Me and Katie are doin great! She's even here!"

"I'm so happy for you" Tony said.

"What's up with _your_ love life?" Joe said "Or should I say lack of love life?"

"Actually she's upstairs" Tony said.

"Who?" Joe asked.

"The love of my life" he said.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle stepped out of the shower. It had taken her 25 minutes but she had finally gotten it all off. She dried her self off only to realize she hadn't grabbed her bag from the car. "Crap!" she said quietly. She couldn't get back into her clothes or walk out with just a towel. She reached for her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tony, it's me, Michelle"

"And I thought my phone was lying..." he said with a smile.

"Shut up" she said "I need you to get my bag for me"

He looked around to make sure no one was listening. "What are you wearing now?"

"A towel, but I can't just walk around like this."

He smiled "I honestly don't think you'd here any complaints… at least not from the guys…"

"Tony…" she said warningly even though he could hear in her voice that she was smiling.

"Ok, I'm going… keep your towel on!" he said with a smile "Well only if you want to."

"Keep dreaming," she said hanging up the phone with a chuckle.

A few minutes later Tony knocked on the bathroom door lightly. He immediately dropped the bag and started to walk away not wanting to create an awkward situation until he heard her voice.

"You're not gonna demand I come out and get it in person?" she asked with a smile.

He turned around and kept his eyes glued to her head. "Look I know I may joke around but I really do respect your privacy"

"Thanks" she said with a smile. She grabbed her bag and began to turn around when she heard his voice.

"Does it bother you? At all?"

"What the teasing?

"Yeah, cause I don't want to make you uncomfortable" he said sincerely.

"No" she said with a smile, and a slight blush "Actually it, kind of…"

He knew exactly what she was thinking, "You know… it's ok to enjoy compliments"

She stepped toward him "And thank you for every single one" she said "and thank you for respecting me"

"Baby I love respecting you, but right now you are making it very hard" he said indicating to the fact that she was still in just a towel.

She giggled and blushed, "Sorry, I'm gonna go get dressed"

"Ok" he said giving her a kiss "See ya downstairs"

_Sometimes, I imagine the world without you  
But most times, I'm just so happy that I ever found you  
It's a complicated web, that you weave inside my head  
So much pleasure with such pain  
Hope we always, always stay the same_

_You go, and then I can finally breathe in  
'Cause baby I know, in the end you're never leavin'  
Well we're rarely ever sane, I drive you crazy and you do the same  
But your fire fills my soul  
And it warms me up like no one knows_

_I'm feelin' the way you cross my mind  
And you save me in the knick of time  
I'm ridin' the highs, I'm diggin' the lows  
'Cause at least I feel alive  
I've never faced so many emotional days  
I'm feelin' you  
I'm feelin' you  
I'm feelin' you  
Oh I'm feelin' you_

_Oh I'm feelin' the way that you cross my mind  
And the way that you save me in the knick of time  
Oh I'm feelin' the way when you walk on by  
I feel light, I feel love, I feel butterflies  
I feel butterflies_

_(Half an hour later)_

"I'm so glad you are all here" Isabella announced as everyone sat down to eat.

"I'm just glad we're here rather than at your parents' house" Jonathan muttered loudly to his wife Hanna.

She rolled her eyes "Definitely, my mother and sisters get so crazy around the holidays." Hanna replied.

"Here's a little advice people, when you are dating watch out for crazy in-laws!" Jon joked.

At this Tony's mom looked at Michelle "What's your family like Michelle?" she asked "As crazy as ours?"

Michelle became a little nervous, but hid it well "They are pretty crazy"

"What's your mom like?" Isabella asked.

Michelle's eyes shot to the left for a second and then back toward her and she said, "She actually is no longer-"

"Oh no I'm so sorry"

"No, no it's fine" Michelle assured with a smile.

"And your father?" she asked cautiously.

"He's around" she said awkwardly, not wanting to tell the truth.

"Oh… well that's good"

"Does he live near you?" Gina asked.

"Yeah he's not too far," Michelle said coolly. Tony realized what was going on and felt bad for Michelle and wanted to help her, but didn't want to be obvious.

"Well that's good" Joe chimed in.

"Does he live alone, or with you?" Isabella asked "Hope I'm not being to nosy"

"No, it's fine" she said, "He doesn't live with me, I live by myself"

Tony was impressed at how she was dodging all these questions like it was nothing, she usually wasn't a good liar… but then again technically none of the things she was saying were lies. "He re-married?" she asked, she was very nosy by nature.

"No he's still single"

Tony knew he needed to stop this "Hey mom do you have any ice?"

"Yes, of course let me get some for you" she said hurrying to the kitchen.

_(Later)_

Most of the family had migrated to the living room "So what do you do for a living?" Hannah asked Michelle as they help Isabella clear the table. "I'm a federal agent"

"Oh, so you work with Tony?" she asked.

"Yeah" Michelle said carrying a pile of plates into the kitchen.

"How does that work out?" she asked with a half-smile.

"Actually I love it" Michelle said with a smile.

In the next room Tony was sitting with Jon "Gina looks different" he commented

"Yeah she's grown" Tony said, not sure if he should share Gina's pregnancy with his brother.

"What was going on with her last week, mom was freaking out"

Tony sighed and leaned closer to Jon "She's pregnant"

Jon looked up behind Tony and spotted his mother whose eyes had just widened as she hurried away. "Crap, I think she heard you"

Tony turned around "Great, I'm never gonna hear the end of it." Tony got up and followed after her. "Mom" he called down the hallway.

She walked up to him trying to keep her voice low since they were not too far from the living room "she's pregnant?!"

"Yeah" Tony said scratching the side of his face and looking at the floor. "I don't know how this happened"

"I think you have a pretty good idea!"

"Well physically I know how it happened but I don't understand why she would do this"

"Well it's not like she did it by herself!" she said starting to get louder "It takes two to make a baby Tony!"

"Why are you yelling at me? It's not my fault! I don't even know who the guy is!"

"It wasn't you?" she asked surprised.

"What?" Tony said with a disgusted look on his face.

"I just figured…"

He began "It's my sister how could I-"

"WHAT!?" she said. "GINA?"

"Yeah who did you think I was talking about?"


	32. Chapter 32 I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Aerosmith_)

Chapter 32

"You! In here! Now!" Tony's mom ordered to Gina.

Gina reluctantly followed her mother to the bedroom while the rest of the family sat silently in the living room. Tony walked over and sat down next to Michelle as he let out a sigh.

"Ya did the right thing," she said rubbing the back of his head "She had to find out some time"

He looked up at her "Yeah" he half-smiled "I guess so"

"What's goin on Tony?" his father asked.

"Dad, Gina's pregnant" Tony said. His father looked shocked as he turned and headed toward the bedroom.

_(Later)_

It was getting late so Jon and Candice, who lived nearby, gathered their things. "Well we are going to head home now, they've been in there for an hour who knows how much longer they'll be. Hey you guys wanna stay at our house?" Candice asked.

"No that's all right" Tony said, "We'll probably just head up soon."

"Alright." She turned to Joe "You're staying at our house right?"

"Yeah we are, we'll follow, I forget where you live." He said grabbing his coat as well as Katie's.

"See ya tomorrow Tony, bye Michelle it was nice to meet you" Jonathon said as they all began saying their goodbyes for the night.

Once they had all left Tony turned to Michelle "You ready for bed?" he asked.

"It's not gonna be weird?" she asked awkwardly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"With us sleeping togeth- well ya know in the same bed and all"

"I don't think they really care" then he thought back tot eh first part of his previous conversation with his mom "Well maybe with everything that's going on, but it's nothing to worry about"

"I just don't want to upset them any more than they are"

"As long as you're ok with it, there's nothing they can do to stop us… I'm a grown man, plus I doubt they'll say anything, they are too pre-occupied with Gina."

"Ok" she said.

Half an hour later they settled into the queen-sized guest bed snuggled tight to each other and peaceful. "Goodnight Michelle, I love you"

"I love you too"

_I could stay awake just to hear you breathing_

_Watch you smile while you are sleeping_

_While you're far away dreaming_

_I could spend my life in this sweet surrender_

_I could stay lost in this moment forever_

_Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure_

_Lying close to you feeling your heart beating_

_And I'm wondering what you're dreaming_

_Wondering if it's me you're seeing_

_Then I kiss your eyes_

_And thank God we're together_

_I just want to stay with you in this moment forever_

_Forever and ever_

_I don't want to miss one smile_

_I don't want to miss one kiss_

_I just want to be with you_

_Right here with you, just like this_

_I just want to hold you close_

_Feel your heart so close to mine_

_And just stay here in this moment_

_For all the rest of time_

_Don't want to close my eyes_

_I don't want to fall asleep_

_Cause I'd miss you baby_

_And I don't want to miss a thing_

_Cause even when I dream of you_

_The sweetest dream will never do_

_I'd still miss you baby_

_And I don't want to miss a thing_

_Don't want to close my eyes_

_I don't want to fall asleep_

_I don't want to miss a thing .._

_(The Next Morning)_

"Hello!? Is someone in there?" Tony's mother called as she knocked on the locked bedroom door.

"What ma?" he said trying not to be too loud.

"Tony?" she said.

"Yes?"

"Oh I wasn't sure if you were in there, I didn't see you last night before bed." She said, Tony was silent so she continued "Ok well I'll let you get back to sleep"

"Ok, thank you" he said resting his head back down next to Michelle's, smiling slightly at the sight of her sleeping face.

"Tony?" his mother called once again.

"What?" he said slightly annoyed.

"Is Michelle in there?" she asked.

He sighed "Yes, she needed a place to sleep."

"You better not have made her sleep on the floor!" she said.

He rolled his eyes "Don't worry she slept in the bed….well is sleeping"

She instantly lowered her voice to a whisper "Oh sorry… well are you comfortable enough?"

Tony smiled 'I didn't even need to lie' he thought "I'm good"

"Ok" she whispered "I'm gonna go make breakfast."

About an hour later Tony and Michelle sauntered into the kitchen. "Good morning" Tony greeted giving his mother a kiss as Michelle took a seat at the counter.

"Good morning baby" she said to him, she then turned around to Michelle who had a dazed look on her face "Good morning Michelle, you ok?"

"She's not a morning person," Tony answered with a smile. Leaning down to Michelle.

"Michelle?"

She looked up and snapped out of it "Good morning" she said with a smile.

"Want some coffee hun?"

Both Tony and Michelle said, "Yes" in unison.

"So when do you two go back to work?" Isabella asked as she gave them their food.

"We have two more weeks of vacation," Tony said.

"Vacation?" she asked.

"Yeah after what happened they gave us a break to recover" Tony said.

"So you both work in the same, like department?"

"Yeah" Tony said, knowing where this was about to go.

"So as co-workers, what are you to each other? Is she your boss?"

"He is my boss" Michelle said quickly.

Tony's mom's eyes widened 'Gotcha' she thought, "Wow, isn't that convenient?" she said with a smile. "Boyfriend and boss all in one!"

At this Gina walked in "Good morning" she said picking up a cup of coffee, noticing it was silent she commented, "Wow, is this an awkward silence or what?" she turned to Tony "what did you do?"

Michelle kept her head down. Tony spoke toward his mother "We keep our relationship out of the office" Tony said.

"Oh" she said turning back around to busy herself with the dishes. She soon joined them at the table just as they were finishing their meals "So, I know I'm incredibly nosy, but I like to know a lot about the people I meet, especially ones that may one day be my daughter" she said with a friendly smile.

Michelle smiled nervously "Ok"

"So how long have you known Tony?"

"Almost a year" she said. 'This isn't so bad' she thought.

"Oh, how long have you two been dating?"

"About two weeks" he said.

'He got his promotion about two weeks ago' Isabella thought. "That's very nice. I'm going to go do some laundry" she said leaving the room.

"Sorry about that" Tony said, "She's usually that nosy, but once she gets to know you she stops asking so many questions."

"We could use her in the interrogation room"

"Yeah, I'd hire her, but she'd drive me crazy"


	33. Chapter 33 No One

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Alicia Keys_)

Chapter 33

"So you ready to get going? We have a long ride home ahead of us," Tony said turning to Michelle after breakfast.

"Yeah" she said with a soft smile "I'll go get our stuff packed up"

"Thank you" he said as she headed upstairs. He headed into the laundry room where his mom was folding clothes and appeared to be in deep thought "Hey mom, we're gonna get going, thank you so much for-"

"Are you sure about her?" she interrupted.

Tony frowned "Michelle?"

"Yes, because to me she seems to be just like the other one"

"Nina?" he said. She nodded her head "No mom she's not **at all**"

"Really? She works with you, she doesn't talk much about her personal life and did you notice that she started dating you around the same time you got promoted to being her boss?"

"She's not like that mom," Tony said trying to keep his tone calm.

"I'm not so sure"

"Well I am" he said calmly but firmly. "I'll give you a call when I get home. Love ya"

"Love you honey" she said "Be careful" she warned and he knew she didn't mean driving.

When he got out to the living room he heard something from the stairs. He looked up to see Michelle struggling with the bag. He hurried up and took them from her "Here, let me take these before you fall down the stairs."

She smiled "Thank you, but I could've done it"

"Uh huh"

_(In the car)_

"Everything between you and your mom ok?" Michelle asked cautiously.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just seemed tense when you came out of the laundry room"

"She was just being paranoid" he said, "it was annoying me"

"About what?" she asked looking his way. He stayed quiet "about me" she concluded.

"Look Michelle-"

"It's ok," she said stopping him. "I get it, after what happened with Nina… I understand"

"She'll come around, and it's not that she doesn't like you she's just overly-protective"

"It's ok," she said

I just want you close  
Where you can stay forever  
You can be sure  
That it will only get better

You and me together  
Through the days and nights  
I don't worry 'cuz  
Everything's going to be alright  
People keep talking they can say what they like  
But all i know is everything's going to be alright

When the rain is pouring down  
And my heart is hurting  
You will always be around  
This I know for certain

You and me together  
Through the days and nights  
I don't worry 'cuz  
Everything's going to be alright  
People keep talking they can say what they like  
But all i know is everything's going to be alright

I know some people search the world  
To find something like what we have  
I know people will try, try to divide something so real  
So til the end of time I'm telling you there is no one

No one, no one, no one  
Can get in the way of what I'm feeling  
No one, no one, no one  
Can get in the way of what I feel for you, you, you  
Can get in the way of what I feel for you

When they finally arrived back in Los Angeles in was late afternoon. "Wanna go to the park to stretch our legs?" Tony suggested.

"Yeah!" Michelle said with a smile.

When they got the park they began walking along pathway, which went all around the outside of the park. They passed a few people with dogs. "Look at that Pomeranian" Tony said pointing to one of the smaller dogs.

"He's so cute" Michelle said with a big smile. "I love dogs"

"Why don't you have one?" Tony asked.

"My job at both Division and CTU are so hectic, I never get time for a dog, wish I could though"

"JASON!" A mother called as her two year old sped toward the road chasing a ball. The mother had a small baby in her arms and was far back so Michelle ran toward the road. She caught the boy by the chest a few feet before he road. The mother finally caught up a few seconds later completely out of breath "Oh my god! Jason!" she said pulling the boy up against her "Thank you so much ma'am"

"You're welcome, he should go out for track when gets older"

She laughed "Hopefully he makes it til then"

Michelle smiled as Tony joined her. "Bye" Michelle said to the woman

"Goodbye, thank you again"

"That was great" Tony said kissing Michelle on the forehead as the continued their walk.

"I had to stop him," she said resting her head on his shoulder as they walked leisurely. "I couldn't imagine what could've happened" she said "anything could happen with kids that age, they are such a big responsibility which is why the thought of being a mom scares the hell out of me"

"You want to be a mom?" he asked with a grin.

"Someday I do," she said with a smile.

"Good" he said.

She lifted her head up "What's that supposed to mean?" she smiled "Why?"

He continued to grin and chuckled "Just that you'll be a great mom"

"Uh huh" she said. She looked up at him "How about you? Ya want kids?"

"Definitely, especially with a woman that'll be really good mom" he said with a smile "You know the kind of woman that saves 2-year-olds from speeding SUVs"

Michelle gaped "You're bold"

He laughed, "Why's that" he asked already knowing what she meant.

"We've only been on like one date yet you are talking about me having your babies!"

"You make it sound so good, and by the way we've been basically living together for almost two weeks"

"All I'm saying is that I could get freaked out right now and run away, most ordinary women would"

"But, you're not an ordinary woman… which I know very well" He said with a large grin.

"I could still make a run for it, I've already demonstrated how good a runner I am today" she smiled.

"Ok so how long do I have to wait before talking about… ya know that thing that could make you take off any second" he said raising his eyebrows.

She laughed, "I don't know"

They both laughed and as the laughter subsided he took he hand in his. As they walked a though occurred to him "You and Jay ever talk about kids?"

"Once" she answered.

"The verdict?"

"It wasn't going to happen," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He didn't want kids so…"

"But you do"

"Well that didn't matter… it takes two"

"So that was it?"

"Yup"

"So forget your hopes and dreams cause they don't fit his?"

"Yeah" she said.

"That's ok" Tony said bring her hand which he held up and kissing it "You were way out of his league anyway"


	34. Chapter 34 Satellites CRASH

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Sugar Ray_)

Chapter 34

CRASH

"Ouch!" Tony shouted "Holy crap!!" he said as he opened his eyes. He was on the floor. "Damn it!" he was still entangled with Michelle and currently on top of her. "Oh no! Michelle you okay?"

She lazily opened her eyes and said in an airy sleep-heavy voice "Why are we on the floor?"

"I guess we rolled too far" He said pulling himself up off of her "I hit my head on the stupid nightstand on the way down!" he said rubbing his forehead.

Michelle sat up and rubbed her eyes. "hmm" she groaned.

"Do you even remember falling off the bed?"

"Nope"

"Geez, you are the heaviest sleeper I've ever met."

"Yeah"

He stretched out his hand and pulled her off the ground. "There ya go, you hurt?"

"As she looked up at him she said "Nope, but that's gonna leave a nasty-looking bruise" she said pointing to where he had hit his head.

"Wonderful" he said as the alarm clock began to go off. "Time for work"

_(Later)_

Tony in Michelle walked into the halfway-rebuilt CTU. "Wow it looks really different already" she commented.

"Yeah just wait until they finish"

"I just can't wait till they get heat in here," she said folding her arms across her chest for warmth. "It's freezing"

"It's mid-December and they still don't have the heater in!" Tony said. "That's gotta change"

Chappelle walked up "Hope your vacation was good" he said "Anyway, Tony the upstairs offices are not completely finished so you'll be working in the pit along with the skeleton of other analysts."

"That's fine but we need some heat in here"

"They'll get to it" Chappelle said.

"Well I would like it to be in at least before Christmas" Tony said.

"That's next week!" Chappelle said "Which reminds me I need to see you in the conference room."

"What for?" Tony demanded.

"I'll tell you in just a moment. Michelle you'll be working at station 17 in the pit. Go get yourself set up and let me know if you have any problems"

"Okay" she said turning and heading for the pit.

"So what do you need me for?" Tony asked Chappelle.

"You will be leaving in two days for a week-long trip."

"Over Christmas?!" Tony said.

"Yeah, we are sending you to CTU NY for training."

"What?!" Tony said in disbelief.

"You want to be director right?" Chappelle threatened.

"Yes" he said getting more and more annoyed.

"Well Division wants you trained immediately, so they are sending you there to get certified and have some first-hand training."

"Why can't we do it after Christmas?" Tony complained.

"They want this taken care of now, either that or we get someone else."

"Fine" he said angrily.

_(Later)_

"What's the matter?" she asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"I hate Chappelle"

"Why…. in particular?" she said.

"He's making me go on a trip in two days"

"For training?"

"Yeah"

It dawned on Michelle. "Oh no! Are you going to miss Christmas?"

"Yeah" he said sadly.

"It has to be this week?"

"Apparently"

"And if I went it'd be obvious" Michelle said "Plus he wouldn't allow it"

"You should spend Christmas with Danny" Tony suggested.

"Yeah" Michelle said with a small smile. "I just wish I could spend it with you"

"These are the things that make me want to quit my job"

"They are seriously going to train you on Christmas?" she asked

"Not on but around and the flight would take too long, by the time I got back I'd have to leave again"

"Plus it would be expensive, you know he wouldn't pay for it"

"You do not realize how much I'd be willing to pay"

_(A few days later)_

The next two days flew by between work and packing, but in the middle of everything Tony and Michelle spent every moment they could with each other. They stayed up both nights talking until morning about whatever came to mind..

"Be careful okay," she warned him as the walked through the airport. "Keep your gun on you no matter what and-"

"Shoot anything that breathes the wrong way?" he finished. "Like drive-by mugger, terrorist, bird"

"You're not funny. You have no idea how worried I am" she said seriously.

"I'll be fine baby, relax" he said kissing her forehead "Got my gun and I'm a federal agent… I can take care of myself"

"I know, but… I don't know anything could happen" she said hugging him tightly as they reached the terminal.

"I'll call every chance I get" he said kissing her.

She looked him over and kissed him again "Be careful" she said nervously playing with her hands.

He took her hands in his and stopped them from moving. "Relax, I'll be fine"

_(Later)_

The next few days passed in a blur between her house, Tony's house and work. Tony had insisted that she sleep in his bed while he was gone since she still refused to touch hers. It didn't matter much, however, because she found herself not being able to sleep in his absence, which little did she know he was also experiencing…

_I'm feeling you tonight_

_In the dream I think I'm falling_

_Bouncing off of the satellite_

_In the dream I think I'm flying_

_I feel you I feel you_

_Reach out and touch me will you_

_I'm feeling you tonight_

Before they knew it Christmas Eve came. Michelle was getting ready to go to Danny's house for Christmas Eve when her cell phone rang. She had hoped it was Tony, but instead it said 'Gina'

"Hello?" Michelle greeted.

"Michelle? …it's Gina…. I'm not uh" Gina said in a faded voice.

"Gina?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay"

"Actually I'm not really feeling…"

"Gina stay with me" Mcihelle said urgently "What's wrong"

"I'm just…. A…. little…umm"

CRASH


	35. Chapter 35 For You I Will

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Monica_)

_This is an extra chapter to make up for lost time; I figured since I had some time I'd do a little extra:)_

Chapter 35

"Gina?" Michelle said dropping her brush and running toward her kitchen phone as she continued to yell Gina's name "Gina? Are you okay?!" She quickly called 911 as she grabbed her keys and slipped on her sneakers.

As Michelle drove exceeding the speed limit by more than 20 miles per hour she turned the heat up as high as possible. Her hair was still really wet from the shower, she was half-dressed and her hair was locked up in small curls, which fell all around her head messily. The heat didn't help much she was still cold without a jacket. She held down the number 2 on her phone to dial Tony as she ran a red light.

"Almeida"

"Tony has the hospital contacted you yet?" Michelle said in a panicked voice.

"No, sweetheart… what are you talking about, hospital?"

"It's Gina"

"What happened?"

"I don't know I was getting ready and she called me and then all of a sudden she stopped talking and fell, she sounded faint and weak."

"Where are you now?"

"I called an ambulance, they are taking her to Western Community, can you call your parents, I didn't have their number, I'm on my way to the hospital but I just thought-"

"Slow down sweetie" he said calmingly. "My parents are in Florida, they go for the month, and they left last week."

"What am I gonna do, you can't come home and-"

"Relax," he said slowly "Breathe, do you need to pull over?"

"No, I need to get there, she's gonna be so scared!"

"Baby, you've done all you can for her. Slow down cause I know you're probably speeding right now and I don't even want to know how many stop sings and red lights you've already run."

Michelle let up slightly on the gas and took a deep breath. "Okay"

"I'm going to call the hospital and find out what's going on and let them know you'll be there to make the decisions"

"Me?"

"Well after my parents it's me then my brothers, but I'd rather handle this, so just call me and I'll walk you through the decisions to make"

"So you'll tell me what to do?"

"Yes"

"Okay" Michelle said "Who's gonna call your brothers?"

"We'll call them as soon as we know what's going on"

"Okay, I'll be at the hospital in about 15 minutes"

"What? How long ago did this happen?"

"About 20 minutes ago"

"How are you that far? The hospital is an hour and 15 minutes away!" he said "What are you doing like 100 miles per hour?"

"85"

"Remember at the airport when you were worried?"

"Yeah"

"That's me now, so slow down before you give me heart attack"

"No more drive-by jokes?" she bargained.

"No more drive-by jokes"

"Good, cause you scare the hell out of me when you mention New York drive-bys" she said with a slight smile.

"Sorry" he said. "So let me know when you get to the hospital… in no less than 20 minutes"

"Okay"

"I'm serious, slow down and respect all traffic laws… got it?"

"Okay already, you're distracting me from driving now"

"I wasn't distracting before"

"You were, but I liked it" she said with a smile.

"Okay, talk to you soon"

"I love you"

"Love you too sweetheart" he said with a smile.

"Bye" Michelle said

_When you're feelin' lost in the night_

_When you feel your world just ain't right_

_Call on me, I will be waitin'_

_Count on me, I will be there_

_Anytime the times get too tough_

_Anytime your best ain't enough_

_I'll be the one to make it better_

_I'll be there to protect you_

_See you through_

_I'll be there and there is nothing_

_I won't do_

_I will cross the ocean for you_

_I will go and bring you the moon_

_I will be your hero, your strength_

_Anything you need_

_I will be the sun in your sky_

_I will light your way for all time_

_Promise you_

_For you I will, yes_

_I will shield your heart from the rain_

_I will let no harm come your way_

_Oh, these arms will be your shelter_

_You know these arms won't let you down_

_If there is a mountain to move_

_I will move that mountain for you_

_I'm here for you, I'm here forever_

_I will be your fortress_

_Tall and strong_

_I'll keep you safe, I'll stand beside you_

_Right or wrong_

_For you I will lay my life on the line_

_For you I will find a hope_

_For you I will die_

_With every breathe, with all my soul_

_I'll give my world, I'll give it all_

_Put your faith in me Put you're faith in me_

_And I'll do anything, oh, oh..._

"Hi, I'm Michelle Dessler, I'm here to see Gina Almeida" Michelle said as she hurried up to the front desk.

The nurse looked up lazily "Yeah, Mr. Almeida called me, just follow me"

"Okay" Michelle said starting to follow the nurse. As they walked down the hallway Michelle started to think about her appearance, her hair was still wet and messy. She was wearing nice clothes, which reminded her that she had to call Danny. She was wearing her jogging sneakers, which were old and worn, and to top it all off she was wearing no make-up 'I'm a mess, now she's really going to be scared'

"She'll be waking up soon, her surgeon Dr. Montgomery will be in to talk to you in a moment."

"Ok, thank you" Michelle said walking up to the bed and taking a seat next to Gina.

_(Later)_

Gina slowly opened her eyes "Michelle?"

"Hey" Michelle said looking up and leaning toward Gina "how you feelin?"

"Like crap, what happened to me?" she asked in a weak voice.

"You had a fallopian pregnancy," Michelle said taking Gina's hand.

"Huh?" Gina said with confusion in her eyes.

"It was growing in your fallopian tube and your fallopian tube burst" Michelle said.

"So the baby?" she asked. Michelle shook her head.

"I'm so sorry" she said hugging Gina.

Gina didn't cry she just silently held onto Michelle until she had a question "Will I fully recover?"

"Dr. Montgomery tried her best but she couldn't save the tube."

"So I only have one now?"

"Yeah"

"Who knows?"

"Just me and Tony" Michelle said as her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Did she wake up yet?"

"Yeah, I just told her"

"She ok?"

"Seems like it"

"She's tough, it'll come out over time" Tony said "So you feeling better?"

"I look like something that crawled out of the sewer of a horror movie"

"I'm sure you're being dramatic"

"No seriously, you gotta see me, you'd be embarrassed to be seen with me"

"I don't think that's possible"


	36. Chapter 36 Thank You Baby!

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Shania Twain_)

Chapter 36

"You wanna talk to her?" Michelle asked Tony.

"Yeah" he said.

Michelle handed the phone to Gina. "Tony?" Gina said, her voice slightly shaking.

"Hey you" he said softly. "How ya doin?"

She started to break down crying "Did you hear?!"

Tony bit his lip "Yeah I did"

"Did I do something wrong?!" Gina cried.

Michelle sat next to her on the bed and wrapped her arms around Gina as Gina continued to talk to Tony on the phone. Tony continued "You didn't do anything wrong, sometimes these things just happen"

"How? Why?" she sniffled.

"Look I'm not exactly sure Dr. Montgomery is going to explain it all to you, but it was not your fault I can assure you"

"Okay, but Tony"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell anyone"

"Why? What about mom and dad?"

"Not yet, I'll tell them, but they're in Florida and if they find out they are gonna rush home and cry and try to comfort me and I don't want that"

"What about Jon and Joe?"

"They'll do that same thing! I don't want attention, I don't want comforting, I want to get it all out now then just get up, walk out of the hospital and forget it"

"Ok, that's fine. I completely understand" he said calmingly "but prepare yourself because they are going to find out"

"I know I just need time to get through it myself before I can face them with it"

"That's your choice and I'm here for you" he said "It gets kinda crazy at these conventions but if you call me I WILL make time."

"Thank you"

"Do you need anything?"

"Sleep"

"Okay, just relax until Dr. Montgomery gets there, then she'll walk you through everything."

"Okay"

"Love you Gina, can I talk to Michelle?"

"Yeah love ya" Gina said handing the phone back to Michelle.

"Michelle is there any chance that you could-"

"You don't even have to ask" she said, "I'll be here"

"You have no idea how much it means to me" he paused "I've never had anyone care as much about me as you, my other girlfriends couldn't care less my brother or sister was hit by a bus and it amazes me that you care so much."

"If this is important to you, it's important to me"

"Thank you so much"

"Plus she starting to grow on me" Michelle laughed along with Tony and Gina.

"I have to go now, I wish I could be there"

"I love you"

"I love you too, sweetheart, I'll talk to you later ok?"

"Yeah"

_Oh, thank you baby for  
Lovin' me like you do  
I didn't like datin'  
And trying to find someone  
I gave up waitin'_

_for love to come along  
There had to be someway  
I knew I'd find it someday_

_So many numbers_

_so many to call  
Is it any wonder_

_i got nowhere at all  
Oh, well it had to be someway_

_I knew I'd find it someday_

_There had to be someway  
I knew I'd find it someday_

_Yeah, thank you baby!  
For makin' someday come so soon  
Yeah, thank you baby!  
For lovin' me the way you do_

Michelle looked down at Gina who was wiping her eyes to rub out the tears "Sotrry about that it's just that the way he talks is so.." Michelle looked at her straight-faced. "you must think I'm crazy- I'm sorry-"

"No" Michelle said stopping her "It's just funny cause I know EXACTLY what you mean"

"Oh"

"he does it to me all the time"

"Really?"

"Yeah, anytime I'm having a problem, no one can tell, but it's like he senses it, no matter how much I try to hide it which is amazing cause I'm really good at hiding my emotions"

"that's sweet"

"But then that thing you were talking about where his voice.."

"Yeah its like…" Gina said struggling for words.

"You don't want to cry or you don't even know what you're holding back until he asks you if you're ok…in _that_ voice"

"then you turn to jello!" Gina said.

"No matter what you do to fight it, that voice goes right through ya"

"that heavy, calm, whispery type-" Gina said.

"He do it to you a lot?" Michelle asked.

"That was actually pretty much the first time it happneed but it was weird"

"he does it to me constantly," she rubbed her chin and muttered "I gotta learn to fight it"

Gina laughed "Good luck"


	37. Chapter 37 In Love With a Girl

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Gavin McGraw_)

Chapter 37

"Michelle!" Gina yelled shaking Michelle's arm.

Michelle eyes flew open as she heard her cell phone ring. It stopped and she turned to Gina "Sorry"

"Damn girl, you are a deep sleeper," Gina said. "Your phone is extremely loud and I've been calling your name"

"Sorry" Michelle repeated rubbing her eyes. "Go back to sleep" she told Gina as she got up out of the chair she had fallen asleep in. She grabbed her phone and headed out to the hallway. Danny had called. "Oh crap," she said as she dialed his number "I completely forgot"

"Michelle!?" Danny answered.

"Yeah hi Danny I'm sorry I forgot to call-"

"Where are you!?"

"The hospital"

"What?!"

"One of my friends had an accident, I'm here to help her"

Danny let out a breath "Thank god you're alright, we've been sooo worried" he took another breath and relayed the message to the other people around him. "We are at your house we were about to call the police, you left all the lights on in your house including the stove"

"Damn it" she cursed herself.

"Well at least you're ok," he said "Are you gonna make it over here?"

Michelle looked at the clock it was 11PM "No, I'm sorry I need to stay with her but I will come visit soon"

"Ok, good luck I hope your friend gets better, anyone I know?"

"No" Michelle said.

"Ok bye"

"Bye" Michelle walked back into the room where Gina was about to fall asleep. "Gina I'm gonna run out I'll be right back"

"Ok" she said closing her eyes.

_(The next morning)_

"Merry Christmas!" Michelle greeted enthusiastically as Gina opened her eyes.

Gina took a second "Hey, Merry Christmas"

"I got you breakfast" Michelle said handing Gina a plate full of a wide assortment of foods "Don't worry I didn't make it"

Gina smiled "Thank you so much"

"You're welcome" Michelle said as she felt her phone start to vibrate. "I'll be right back." She walked out into the hallway "Tony?"

"Merry Christmas sweetheart!" he said.

"Merry Christmas!" she said with a huge smile.

"Did I wake you?" he asked.

"Would a ringing phone wake me?"

Tony laughed, "I guess not, so what are you doing?"

"I went out to the store this morning and bought Gina a big breakfast, she's eating it now"

"You are so sweet" Tony said, "I wish I were there so much you don't even understand"

"I do actually" Michelle said sadly "I feel the same"

"We'll celebrate it again when I come home"

Michelle smiled "Okay, sounds great, when will you be home?"

"Late tomorrow night probably around mid-night"

"Thank god, I've been going insane, just wait till you see what I've done!"

Tony frowned "What'd you do?"

"Well I washed our cars, cleaned both of our houses… hope you don't mind, did all of the laundry, reorganized my bookshelves, re-arranged furniture-"

"Have you been going to work?!"

"Yeah"

"Then where do you find the time to do all of this?"

"At night" she said simply.

"What about sleeping?"

"Haven't been doin too much of that"

"Why not?"

"I just can't fall asleep, every time I try, I'm at your house and I think about how I miss you and then I get an idea of something I can clean"

"You need sleep"

"And you need your cabinets cleaned out… I think I'll do that tonight"

"Michelle…" Tony warned

"Your refrigerator smells kinda funky too, maybe I should tackle that one too"

Tony sighed defeatedly "Fine, just stay away from the stove ok?" he said "And promise me you'll try to sleep tonight"

"Sure"

"Michelle…"

"I WILL!" Michelle looked through the door to Gina's hospital room "Gina can come home in a few days"

"Okay, is it okay if she stays with us?" Tony asked

"Us?" Michelle wondered aloud.

"Sorry, does that bother you?"

"No I like the sound of it and plus I already have the guest room ready for her… I moved the TV from your study into there and cleared the junk off the bed and put some fresh sheets on"

Tony laughed, "You're insane"

_So many people gonna say that they want you,_

_To try to get you thinking they really care,_

_But there's nothing like the warmth of the one who has put in the time_

_and you know she's gonna be there,_

_Back your border when she knows someone crossed it,_

_Don't let nobody put you down, who your with_

_Take the pain of protecting your name, from the crutch to the cane to the high wire_

_Out the many broken backdoors and windows,_

_Through the valley of the love of the lost,_

_Is a hole that is cut through the souls falling down from the _

_thrones without leaving any windows,_

_But you drown in a piece for the moment,_

_The moment was over in time,_

_Then its gone the hit and run the tactless one has a short life_

_Gonna tell you what you do to think you practice what you preach,_

_Now I know there's nothing we can't reach,_

_'Cause the heart can't erase once it finds a place to be warm and welcome,_

_To be held in shelter_

_I'm in love with a girl who knows me better,_

_Fell for the woman just when I met her,_

_Took my sweet time when I was bitter,_

_Someone understands,_

_And she knows how to treat a fella right,_

_Give me that feeling every night,_

_Wants to make love when I want to fight,_

_Now someone understand me,_

_I'm in love with a girl_

Michelle handed Gina the phone and whispered "I'm gonna run to the bathroom"

"Tony?" Gina said as Michelle left the room.

"Merry Christmas" Tony said.

"Thanks you too" she said.

"How you doing?"

"Better" Gina said "Geez Tony you have had bad luck in the past but you sure know how to pick 'em"

"What are you talking about?"

"Michelle! She's amazing" Gina said excitedly. Tony smiled on the other end of the phone "Get this! She brought me breakfast in bed, which was ready when I opened my eyes, it tastes amazing, she's basically held my hand through this whole thing and she stayed over at the hospital last night with me… two questions"

Tony continued to smile widely "What?"

"Where did you find her and does she come in hot-guy form?"

Tony laughed "Yeah I have no idea how I got so lucky"

"So how's your trip?"

"Ugh" Tony sighed, "These are the most depressing people I have ever met. They all have absolutely no life and they make me want to strangle myself"

Gina laughed, "What are you doing there?"

"Listening to them talk, which is all they do" Tony complained "Yesterday we spent three hours talking about formatting cover-sheets"

"Geez, you make me appreciate the crappy Spanish soap operas the lady next to me likes to watch all day" Gina said "So how much longer is this thing?"

"I'll be home tomorrow, but I won't see you until Saturday cause my flight gets in really late, but don't worry I'll be at the hospital early Saturday morning"

"Okay, I'll see you then" Gina said handing the phone off to Michelle who had just walked in.

"Michelle?" Tony said as Michelle put the phone up to her ear.

"Yeah?"

"I owe you big time for everything you've done for me"

She smiled "I'll put it on your tab"


	38. Chapter 38 Be With You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Enrique Iglesias_)

Chapter 38

"You owe me 900," Michelle announced as Gina set her piece down on New York Avenue

"Crap! I suck at Monopoly!" she said.

"Don't feel bad, I'm great at his game" Michelle said.

"So it's not that I suck, its just that you are amazing?"

Michelle smiled "You make me seem so modest"

Gina gave the money to Michelle "Ahh, sarcasm that's why you and Tony get along so well"

Michelle smiled glancing at the clock over Gina's head. "My turn" she said rolling the dice. "Yeah I haven't lost in like years"

"You played with Tony lately?"

"No, he good?"

"Insanely good, your pretty good but I think he could ruin your streak"

Michelle looked up and sat back "oh you think so?"

"He's REALLY good" Gina said rolling the dice.

"We'll see about that," Michelle challenged.

"You might not want to do that if you want to keep your winning record"

"Is that a threat or a challenge?" Michelle asked "Because either way game on!"

Gina laughed, "Ok when?"

"Sunday at Tony's house, when you get home so you can witness it"

"Deal" Gina said shaking her hand.

Michelle glanced up at the clock again "So did you have fun yesterday?"

"Definitely!" Gina said with a huge smile "This has been the best hospital stay ever!"

"I'm glad, I wasn't sure If you were gonna be up for the entire season"

"No it was AWESOME!! I love Grey's Anatomy I could watch it every day!"

"That was a great season, it's funny because I was in the hospital a few months ago when I watched season one and then now I'm in the hospital with you and I watched the second season, I'm watching a show that takes place in a hospital in an actual hospital"

"Don't you love it!"

Michelle laughed. "Yeah it's a great show"

"Tony makes fun of it"

"I know he does" Michelle said "But he's the one who had it on his iPod"

"That's how you started?"

"Yup"

Gina laughed "Can't wait to figure out how to turn that against him"

"Yeah" Michelle glanced at the clock.

"Stop it" Gina said.

"What?"

"You've looked at the clock every 5 minutes for the past three hours"

"Sorry he'll be getting on the plane soon"

Gina turned around to see the clock "Yeah and he should be home in about 9 hours"

Michelle moved her piece "8 hours 39 minutes and" she looked up "46 seconds"

"Geez listen to yourself" Gina said in surprise with a laugh.

"It's pathetic, I know"

"I find it cute"

"I find it slightly obsessive"

"Well I think it's sweet"

Michelle glanced at the clock "Well I think we need to get rid of that clock before I go insane"

_Monday night I feel so low  
Count the hours they go so slow  
I know the sound of your voice  
Can save my soul  
City lights, streets of gold_

Look out my window to the world below  
Moves so fast and it feels so cold  
And I'm all alone

Don't let me die  
I'm losing my mind  
Baby just give me a sign

And now that you're gone  
I just wanna be with you  
And I can't go on  
I wanna be with you  
Wanna be with you

I can't sleep and I'm up all night  
Through these tears I try to smile  
I know the touch of your hand  
Can save my life

Don't let me down  
Come to me now  
I got to be with you somehow

Michelle played with her fingers as she watched the flight monitor waiting for Tony's flight to pop up. The time was right on the screen so she checked the time every 30 seconds. "So who you waiting for?" an old man asked her.

At first she didn't realize he was talking to her but then she turned to him "Oh, I'm sorry" she smiled "I'm waiting for my boyfriend"

"You're not married yet?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that women like you don't last long when you are 'on the market'"

Michelle laughed, "Who are you waiting for?"

"My son and his family" he said with a proud smile.

"Are they coming to visit?"

"No they're coming home from Florida" he said seeing their flight pop up "Oh, there it is… gate 16" he said as he read the monitor "Well, it was nice talking to you, by the way my name is Patrick"

She shook his hand "Michelle"

He smiled and headed away. Michelle analyzed the conversation in her mind while she checked the time 'that killed 4 minutes'

Just then his flight popped up on the screen. She quickly read 'Gate 3' and headed off. She stood there staring at the doorway that he would come out of. She stared more and checked the time on her phone. Then finally he emerged with one laptop in a bag hanging from his shoulder, a carry-on bag hanging from his arm and in the other hand another laptop. She ran up to him and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and slowly dropped all the bags. "Hey sweetie" he said in that voice.

They stayed like that for about half a minute then he pulled back to see her face. A single tear had fallen. "Sorry" she said as he wiped it away.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing" she said picking up on of his laptops.

He picked up the other two bags and they began to walk toward the luggage claim. "Tell me"

She looked up and decided to tell, "Ok, well… it's like you were a good dream"

He smiled signaling for her to continue.

"When you were gone it was like, other than Gina, I was back to being alone… like you had been a dream and I had woken up… just not having you around, but now you're here and when I see you, it's like you're a dream that I had that came true"

He kissed her on the side of the head "I love you so much" he whispered.

"Geez, throughout all my life I've never been this… mushy… you've made me soft Almeida"

"Don't worry I'm feelin the same thing" he chuckled.

"Yeah, but you don't lose sleep over me, or go insane cleaning and re-decorating when I'm not around and you seemed to be able to keep your composure back there"

"Ok, let me tackle one of those at a time" he took a breath "Knock knock"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Knock Knock Michelle you better answer"

Michelle rolled her eyes "Who's there?"

"47" Tony replied

"47 what?"

"Minutes" Tony said, "That's how much sleep I got last night"

Michelle laughed "really?"

"Knock Knock"

Michelle laughed harder "Who's there?"

"Yes"

Michelle continued to try to get her laughter under control as Tony grabbed his two suitcases of the conveyer belt. Michelle took one and Tony took one. "So what's next?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you stay up all night and re-decorate the hotel room?"

"Even though it _really_ needed it… no" he said "I just spent all my time obsessing over your Christmas present."

Michelle smiled "Hope you like what I got you, you're so hard to shop for"

"Number 3, I'm a man"

"What?"

"The third thing you know the no sleep, redecorating and now the third thing"

"So you don't cry because you're a man?"

He scratched his chin "Yup" he said in a deep macho voice "Ain't much that can bring me to tears"

Tony thought back in his mind…

_FLASHBACK_

"_Michelle?" …She heard something in the distance, it sounded like him, 'keep focusing Michelle someone will be here soon' she told herself. "Michelle?" she heard it again, that wasn't her imagination she felt someone stroking her face she tried to talk "To.." she coughed "Tony" her voice was almost non existent, it was just a small croak._

_Tears were forming in his eyes "Hey it's ok I'm here. Hold on I'll get you help" He carefully slid his arm under her back and under her knees and gently lifted her off the ground._

"_Wh- Where-?" she tried to say._

"_Shh it's ok just stay with me, we're gonna get you help" He carried her down the stairs the medics were loading Kyle into the chopper and were waiting for him, he slowly set her down on a stretcher. They loaded her into the chopper and took off…_

………

"_He's… I think he's, it's my fault" she couldn't even get out a coherent thought._

"_Who? Jay? What did he do?" Tony asked frantically._

_At that everything came rushing at her. Her boyfriend who she had trusted so deeply and thought she might love had been cheating on her all along. He never really cared about her; he hurt her- in so many ways. The drinking, the yelling, the cheating…he didn't care about her. He had never loved her, he had lied to her. She trusted him and he stabbed her in the back; her heart ached. All of these realizations, it wasn't the alcohol, it was him, he wanted to hurt me, he meant what he said. These realizations that were rushing at her so fast made her dizzy. "Tony, I …need…to...breath" her whole body was shaking as she took sharp deep breaths._

"_Ok, ok listen to my voice Chelle" she listened. "Breathe with me okay"_

"_Uh…huh"_

"_Ok don't try to talk, steady, even, breaths." He breathed loud so she could hear and follow along. After about 3 breaths he talked again. "Good job, now close your eyes, and relax." He kept breathing with her until her breaths became more normal "Your doing a great job Chelle. Are you sitting down on the couch?"_

"_Yeah" she said in a whisper._

"_Ok just lay down and close your eyes. Keep breathing with me." They breathed for a minute or two. "Are you falling asleep?"_

"_Uh huh" she said groggily_

"Ok I want you to put your thumb on the 'end call' button, and as soon as you feel yourself drifting off push that button. You don't have to speak, just hit that button, but in the meantime keep breathing with me."

"_Okay" she whispered. It only took her another three minutes before Tony heard his phone beep letting him know that she had fallen asleep. His eyes were full of tears, but he refused to let them go. It killed him to know that she was in pain._

_He was so glad she hadn't died… 'What if she had?' Tony visualized her funeral this was enough for a tear to fall, but he wiped it away._

_END FLASHBACK_

Michelle still lightly laughing talking about his manliness "….and nothing can make you cry, like superhero your just tooo tough" with a fake man voice and a huge smile looked up at Tony, who had a single tear rolling down his face. "What's wrong?"

"It's you"

"What?" Michelle said her smile melting.

"Every superhero has a weakness, you're mine" Tony said wiping his tear and blinking away the rest that were in his eyes, he smiled and continued as he held her face "You're the one person that can bring me to tears"


	39. Chapter 39 All I Want

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Mariah Carey_)

Chapter 39

""I'm excited" Michelle said simply as Tony drove her car on their way home.

"Why's that?"

"Well I'm exhausted and tonight I will get the first full night of sleep in a week" she said rubbing her eyes "…and…" she paused and smiled "…tomorrow's Christmas"

He smiled "_our_ Christmas"

"Our _first_ Christmas" she said with an even sweeter smile.

"Our first of many" he added.

"I hope so," she said.

"I _promise_"

"You can promise that?" she asked slightly amused.

"Watch Me," he said pulling over to the side of the road. When they had stopped her turned his body in the seat "Michelle Dessler, I herby promise to be with you this Christmas and for many Christmases to come" he stuck out his pinky.

Michelle started to offer her pinky but pulled back with a smile. "How many we talkin?"

"As many as I have" he said putting his pinky even closer to hers.

"Are we seriously gonna 'pinky swear' on something as important as this?" she said with a giggle.

"You're right" he said "a kiss would be much more appropriate"

He leaned in and softly kissed her. After a few seconds she pulled back "Here's to many, _many_ Christmases together" and she continued to kiss him.

_I won't ask for much this Christmas  
I won't even wish for snow  
I'm just gonna keep on waiting  
Underneath the mistletoe  
I won't make a list and send it  
To the North Pole for Saint Nick  
I won't even stay awake to  
Hear those magic reindeer click  
'Cause I just want you here tonight  
Holding on to me so tight  
What more can I do  
Baby all I want for Christmas is you  
You..._

_All the lights are shining  
So brightly everywhere  
And the sound of children's  
Laughter fills the air  
And everyone is singing  
I hear those sleigh bells ringing  
Santa won't you bring me the one I really need  
Won't you please bring my baby to me_

_Oh I don't want a lot for Christmas  
This is all I'm asking for  
I just want to see baby  
Standing right outside my door  
Oh I just want him for my own  
More than you could ever know  
Make my wish come true  
Baby all I want for Christmas is  
You_

By the time they were back at Tony's house Michelle was fast asleep in her seat. Tony pulled into the driveway quietly and turned off the car. He quietly got out of the car and went around to her side. He slowly un-did her seat belt and gently lifted her out of the seat. Her body instinctually leaned into his. Once they had gotten upstairs he laid her in the bed gently and slid her shoes off. He then crawled into bed with her. She rolled into his embrace and murmured "Merry Christmas" in her sleep.

"Merry Christmas baby, I love you," he whispered back.

_(The next morning)_

Tony's eyes opened lazily as he began to come out his sleep. The room was completely silent, all he could hear was Michelle's soft breathing. She was halfway on top of him with her face nuzzled into his neck. He smiled down at her and slowly pulled her face up and plated a soft kiss on her cheek. As she opened her eyes he laughed lightly and kissed her again.

Her face was pink from being against his neck all night and he imagined the there was probably a pink spot on his neck from where here face had been. As she tried to get her bearing she blinked and looked around "Good morning" she said in a light sleepy voice.

"Good Morning baby, Merry Christmas"

Her eyes lit up "Merry Christmas!!" she hugged him tightly. "Can we open presents?" she asked.

He laughed at her child-like excitement "Of course" he said pulling her off the bed with him. Once she was off the bed she ran to the door but then stopped and turned around. He looked at her "What?"

"Did you see the living room?" she asked.

"No, I just woke up... why?"

Michelle smiled and stuck her hand out. He smiled and took her hand as she led him downstairs. They walked into the living room but it was completely dark so he couldn't see anything. Then Michelle flipped a switched and the entire room lit up.

There was a beautiful tree with blue and silver ribbon cascading down it with assorted silver and blue ornaments on it. As the tree came to life the lights faded gently in and out in different places. He looked over to his fireplace where she had hung two stockings up with their names. The entire room was filled with Christmas decorations and smelled like pine. "Oh my god Michelle" he said with a gasp "I can't believe this" he looked at her in amazement "This is so beautiful"

"I'm glad you like it" she said with a huge smile as she headed over the tree to get something from under it.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and as she crouched over he picked her up and spun her around. He kissed her "I love you so much"

"I love you too" she said as they continued to kiss. "Ready for your present?" she asked a few seconds later.

"Sure, one second I have to make a phone call" He said running upstairs.

Michelle wondered for a moment who he'd be calling 'Maybe he is calling Gina' she thought as she pulled a small box out from under the tree. She also took out an envelope with a note from her to him. "Hey" she greeted as he walked in. She sat down on the couch and as he joined her and wrapped his arms around her she handed him the box "Here is your present" she said and this, she said indicating to the note "Is for later"

He smiled "ok" he took the box and began to rip the paper off. It was a watch. A beautiful watch, which he guessed had been extremely expensive "Oh no" he said as he pulled the watch out. "This is amazing!"

"I'm so glad you like it, I had no idea what to get you"

"Sweetheart anything you get me, I love" he said examining the watch. He noticed something written on the side 'I love you with all my heart Michelle'

She smiled when he noticed it and read it and re-read it over and over. "What do you think?"

"That I love you so much and you have no idea how close I am to tears" he said hugging her.

The doorbell rang "Who's that?" Michelle said perking up.

"It's here," Tony said setting the watch down on the table gently and heading to the door. "Stay there" he instructed.

Michelle sat on the couch and listened in closely.

"Thank you so much man. Here's extra for delivering it"

"No that's fine"

"Take it"

"Thank you Mr. Almeida"

She heard the door close. "Close your eyes Michelle" she heard him say. She obeyed.

The next thing she felt was something starting licking her face. She instinctually opened her eyes as Tony set the puppy in her lap. "OH MY GOD!!" she squealed as she picked up the puppy.

Tony smiled widely "It's a boy, he's a Labrador retriever"

"Oh my goodness!! Do you realize how much I've always wanted a dog!!" she said petting the puppy. "Does he have a name?"

"Yes, and this is the part I spent days obsessing over" Tony said "I wanted him to have a name that meant something because to me he means something… guess what day he was born?"

"He looks at least few months old," she said kissing the puppy "September?"

"September 4th" he said

She looked at him completely shocked "The day of the bomb"

"The day our relationship began"

"Wow, did you Google that or something?" she asked. "Dogs born on September 4th"

"No actually it was a complete coincidence, well actually I was deciding between 6 different puppies and I didn't know which to choose then I was this one's date of birth which was this… 'September 4th 2:39AM"

She stared at him once again "Now you're lying"

"I'm not"

"That's at the same time that we…"

"…had our first kiss" he finished.

"That's soo weird," she said looking at the puppy.

"I'm not really too religious or anything, but I'm pretty sure God made this dog for us."

She smiled "sure seems that way" she said, "So what's his name?"

"First I'll tell you where I got it from"

"Ok"

"When I decided to get you a dog I wanted to do it because I know you love dogs and I thought you'd be so happy to get one and I also wanted you to have a piece of me with you all the time, the dog could be a constant living, breathing reminder of how much I love you. This puppy is going to grow into a strong adult dog who will love you and protect you all the time. Now of course loving and protecting you is my job and I will always love you and protect you, but any time I'm not around like when I go on a trip I want you to still have this piece of me to stay with you to continue loving and protecting you even when I'm far away"

A tear rolled down her face "that means so much to me"

"His name is Garren, Garren means guardian, protector, guard and keeper"

"That's beautiful," she said hugging him tightly and then kissing him. As they kissed Garren began to lick their chins. As he did this Michelle began to giggle.

"We'll have to train him not to do that," Tony said with a smile.


	40. Chapter 40 Amazed

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Lonestar_)

_Here's a slightly shorter chapter for those with FY cravings :)And don't forget to drop a review for each chapter if you don't mind!!_

Chapter 40

Tony walked up to the front desk "Hi I'm here to see Gina Almeida"

"Sir you're going to have to wait a little while we have a lot of visitors to process"

Michelle walked up behind him "Hey Chelsea" she greeted with a smile.

"Good Morning Michelle" the nurse said with a smile. "You can go right in"

"Come on Tony" Michelle said sticking out her hand.

Tony looked back and forth between the nurse and Michelle. Michelle urged him further, he looked at the nurse who nodded. Tony then took Michelle's hand and followed her "So you're on a first-name basis with the nurses?"

Michelle laughed, "Yeah, they're really nice… except for this one… Kayla, I swear she has multiple personalities," Michelle said as she opened Gina's door. She turned on the lights and Gina was nowhere to be found "Gina?" Michelle called.

"Help in here" Michelle heard come from the bathroom.

"Not again" Michelle said heading over to the bathroom motioning for Tony to stay. Michelle opened the door. Tony couldn't see inside but he watched her facial expression go from slightly worried to giggling "Didn't the doctors tell you not to try this on your own?"

"I don't need a lecture this is embarrassing enough" He heard Gina's voice say.

Michelle laughed as she headed in and bent over. He couldn't see anything, but he was scared to go and looked so he decided to stay where he was. "Here stick your leg in here" he heard Michelle instruct.

He heard a light thump and an eruption of laughter. "Could these jeans be any tighter?" Michelle said.

"Shut the hell up" Gina laughed.

"Here try it this way," Michelle said, "I don't know why you don't just grab some sweat pants this is ridiculous"

"I haven't worn jeans in a week!"

"And this is why" Michelle said with another thump, "I give up, where are your sweatpants.

Gina was laughing hard but she managed to get out "The blue bag."

Michelle emerged from the bathroom and smiled at Tony as she took a pair of sweatpants out of a blue bag. She then disappeared back into the bathroom. "Here, for now you wear sweatpants, give yourself some more time then you can go back to jeans"

"Uh huh" Gina said as they slipped on her pants.

Michelle helped her up and as she limped back over to the bed Michelle said "I swear Gina Almeida if I have to pick you up off that bathroom floor one more time…"

"You'll what?" Gina said with a smile as she got back into the bed.

Michelle smiled "I'll have an even _longer_ lecture"

Gina rolled her eyes "That'll teach me" she looked over to Tony "Tony!! You're home!!"

Tony smiled and walked over to the bed and gave his sister a hug. "Hey, how ya feelin kid?"

"I'm fine," she said and without even looking at Michelle she said, "Don't roll your eyes Michelle"

Tony laughed, "I see you two have gotten acquainted"

Gina smiled "It's been great, she's been taking such good care of me"

"I knew she would" Tony said with a smile.

"So did Michelle tell you I get to come home tomorrow!?"

"Yeah" Tony said, "That's great"

"Oh yeah and did she tell you about the Monopoly game tomorrow?"

Tony looked up at Michelle slightly confused "Monopoly game?"

_(A few hours later)_

As Tony and Michelle left the hospital Tony stopped her grabbed her face kissed passionately. As she caught her breath and looked around the parking lot, he smiled and ran his thumb across her cheek and said, "You amaze me" with love in his eyes.

As she got her composure back she said, "Uh, yeah your pretty full of surprises yourself"

He laughed as he took her hand and they headed back to her car. They got into the car and he started the car. As they drove they held hands, this had now become a habit that they didn't even think about. "How do you do it?" he asked after a few minutes. "You got all of a sudden thrown in to this terrible situation where your new boyfriend is out of town and his sister has a miscarriage and you are the only one there to watch over her and it's Christmas" he took a breath "and somehow you manage to make it through the holiday and disaster and I come back and everything's perfect, my house is beautiful, my holiday is delivered to me on a silver and blue platter and the disaster seems like it never even happened." Tony said watching Michelle "My sister should be upset, most women are scarred for life by things like this, but she's not. She's laughing and trying to get into her incredibly tight jeans and making jokes" he said, "How'd you do it? Because it amazes me"

_Everytime our eyes meet  
This feeling inside me  
Is almost more than I can take  
Baby when you touch me  
I can feel how much you love me  
And it just blows me away  
I've never been this close to anyone or anything  
I can hear your thoughts  
I can see your dreams_

_The smell of your skin  
The taste of your kiss  
The way you whisper in the dark  
Your hair all around me, baby you surround me  
You touch everyplace in my heart  
Oh, it feels the first time everytime  
I wanna spent the whole night in your eyes_

_I don't know how you what you do  
I'm so in love with you, it just keeps getting better  
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side  
Forever and ever  
Every little thing that you do  
Baby I'm amazed by you_

_Every little thing that you do  
I'm so in love with you  
It just keeps getting better  
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side  
Forever and ever  
Every little thing that you do  
Oh, every little thing that you do  
Baby I'm amazed by you_

"Watch out!" Michelle said pointing into the road at a man who was stumbling right in front of the car.

Tony slammed on the brakes and stopped just in time not to hit the man who he was shocked realize that he recognized. "Is that…"

He looked at Michelle who was staring at the ceiling closing her eyes. "Yes" she said quietly.

Tony got out of the car and walked over to the man "Jay?"

He spun around in a drunken haze as he stumbled into the other lane of traffic "Hey look everyone!!" no one was around "It's prince charming!!"

Tony glanced at the car. Michelle still was facing the ceiling with her eyes closed but the window and his door were open so he knew she could hear. "Jay, get out of the road you're gonna get hit by a car" Tony said impatiently.

"Yeah I been looking for you, got something for you."

Michelle opened her eyes just in time to see Jay throw his fist toward Tony. Tony grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground, but before she could react another car came speeding down the road in the opposite direction. "Tony!!" Michelle screamed.

Tony spun around and just as the came toward them he grabbed Jay who was half way on his feet and pushed him out of the road as Tony dove of the way of the car. Michelle covered her eyes as the car swerved and just barely missed her car. Michelle let out a screech of terror as her eyes flew open to see if Tony had made it.

Tony stood up as the dust settled on the side of the road. Michelle jumped out of the car and as she looked at him threw her hands over her mouth "Oh my god!"

Tony looked for cars and then ran over to her and hugged her tightly saying, "It's ok, breathe, I'm right here, I'm fine… you ok?"

She nodded into his chest and then looked over his shoulder at Jay who was still flat out on the ground. "What do you want me to do?"

"Leave him," she said coldly.

"Michelle… are you sure?" he said wanting to leave him but not wanting her to feel guilty later.

"Yes! You know what he's done to me, he tried to hurt you and because of him I almost watched you die right in front of my eyes! SO YES! I'm sure!" she said with tears of anger forming in her eyes.

"Ok baby, ok" he said hugging her once again "Come on" he said breaking the hug and putting his arm around her "Let's go back to the car" As they pulled away Michelle took out her cell phone and dialed. "What are you doing?" Tony asked glancing at her.

"Calling the police to go pick him up so he doesn't get himself killed" she coldly.


	41. Chapter 41 Hero

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by **_Enrique Iglesias_**)

Chapter 41

A few minutes later they pulled up to Tony's house. They got out of the car silently and walked up to the front door. As Tony looked through his key ring for his keys he looked up at Michelle who had her arms across her chest and looked frustrated. "Don't let him get to you"

Michelle looked up "It would have been all his fault" she said staring off in to the distance in fury "I probably would have killed him…"

Tony stopped fussing with his keys "What would have been his fault?"

Michelle looked straight at him in surprise "Your death" she said "I don't think you realize how much that shook me up, how big of a deal that was… it didn't happen but I keep seeing it over and over in my head" she said staring off as in picturing something "you push him out of the way and you get hit by the car… it's so vivid, you get thrown across the highway and-" she shook her head in disgust "I don't want to see it anymore… put yourself in my shoes for a second imagine watching my death live in front of your eyes"

"Gunshot wound in your left arm, you're in a pool of blood, which you are soaked in, your face is bruised up, you are barely breathing, but if I listen closely enough I can hear you repeatedly whispering my name" he said "I pick you up and you start to cry in my arms as your blood soaks through my shirt and you begin to die… right there in my arms… in front of my eyes…" he took a shaky breath "Did you know you crashed? You actually _died_ in my arms _crying_"

She stood there shocked.

"I didn't _imagine_ it… I lived it," he said sadly.

"Oh my god" she said.

"So yes, I know _exactly_ how you feel... it's terrible. I see it all the time in my nightmares, except the part where they shock you back to life in the helicopter never shows up"

"Do you have that nightmare a lot?" she asked.

"I used to have it a lot more, but now not as much"

She hugged him with tears starting to run down her cheeks "I had no idea"

After a minute he pulled back and held the side of her face "I'm just so glad you're alive" he said as a tear came down his face.

"Me too"

_Would you dance  
if I asked you to dance?  
Would you run  
and never look back?  
Would you cry  
if you saw me cry?  
And would you save my soul, tonight?_

_Would you tremble  
if I touched your lips?  
Would you laugh?  
Oh please tell me this.  
Now would you die  
for the one you loved?  
Hold me in your arms, tonight._

_Would you swear  
that you'll always be mine?  
Or would you lie?  
would you run and hide?  
Am I in too deep?  
Have I lost my mind?  
I don't care...  
You're here tonight._

_Oh, I just want to hold you.  
I just want to hold you.  
Am I in too deep?  
Have I lost my mind?  
I don't care...  
You're here tonight._

_I can be your hero, baby.  
I can kiss away the pain.  
I will stand by your forever.  
You can take my breath away._

As they entered the house Garren came running toward them and jumped up on Michelle's leg. She giggled at his excitement and picked him up. Tony laughed as Garren licked all Michelle's tears up. Just then Michelle's phone rang. She handed the puppy to Tony and pulled out her cell phone. She didn't recognize the number. "Who is it?" Tony asked holding the fidgeting pup.

"I don't know she said answering it"

"Hello?" she answered.

"Michelle?" the man asked.

"I'm sorry who is this?" she asked before answering.

"Jon, Tony's brother" he said

Michelle signed in relief "Hey Jon, it's Michelle"

"Oh ok" he said with a chuckle "I've tried to call Tony but he's known for not answering the phone and he's hasn't been answering all day... anyway Gina gave me your number"

"Oh alright, do you want to talk to Tony?"

"Sure" he said.

"Hello?" Tony asked handing the puppy back to Michelle.

"Hey Tony, what's up with Gina and where's your phone?"

"What do you mean and I forgot it at home"

"I'm trying to get some of the family together for a post-Christmas dinner tonight and I called to ask her if she wanted to come out with us and she wouldn't give me an answer and she kept stammering"

"Her life's been crazy lately, woman stuff, I'll talk to her"

"You guys coming?"

"Hold on" he muted the phone and turned to Michelle "Dinner tonight with my brothers and sisters?"

"Sounds great as long I have time to clean up, my eyeliner is everywhere" she said wiping her eyes.

He shook his head and turned back to the phone "Sure what time?"

"6… can you see if Gina can come?"

"I'll try" Tony said "Bye"

"Bye"

_(An hour later)_

"Mind if we bust you outta here a night early?" Tony said with a smile.

"Really? The doctor said it was ok?" Gina said excitedly.

"Yeah, he just wants to do a quick check up and we can go… only if you're up to it"

"Yeah!"

"Good cause Michelle's already filling out the release forms" he smiled.

_(An hour later)_

"There we go you look great," Michelle said helping Gina get all her things. "Tony's pulling around the car"

"I don't really need a wheelchair" Gina assured the nurse.

"Sorry it's procedure" the nurse said.

Gina looked at Michelle pleadingly "Don't mess with procedure" which made Gina laugh.

Tony took the bags from Michelle and started loading them in the car as Michelle helped Gina into the car "Emotional day?" Gina whispered in Michelle's ear.

"Wh-"

"Eyeliner… right here" she said pointing to just below her eye.

"Are you kidding I thought I got it all" Michelle said.

As Tony got into the driver seat he glanced over to see Michelle fussing in the mirror "Sweetheart you look wonderful, relax" he said taking her hand out of the air and capturing it in his as he began to drive.

Michelle, finally satisfied turned back to Gina "Better?"

"Perfect" she said. About 45 minutes later they arrived at the restaurant and helped Gina out of the car. "Ok no more helping me" she said.

Tony and Michelle let Gina lead the way in as the followed holding hands. When they got to the table Tony pulled out a chair for both Gina and Michelle, Michelle smiled and sat down, while Gina shot him look warningly. "Lighten up" he whispered.

"How you guys doin?" Jon greeted enthusiastically.

Michelle smiled brightly "Very well"

"Jon and Katie couldn't make it so it's just the five of us" Rachel announced.

"How are you Gina?" Rachel asked.

"I'm great" Gina said with a smile.

"You sounded kinda off when I talked to you on the phone" Jon said.

"Yeah, I was busy and it was just a little crazy, but I'm good now" she answered speaking slightly too fast.

"So what'd you do for Christmas?" Jon asked Gina.

"I just kinda hung out, Tony and Michelle visited me," she said.

"They visited you? I thought you were staying at their house?" Jon asked suspiciously.

Gina was your average liar…bad. With their training Tony and Michelle were great liars so they took this as their cue. "Yeah well you know what happens when you invite women over, they take over your house and before you know it you're the guest that sleeps on the couch, while they eat all your food." He said rolling his eyes.

Michelle slapped him on the arm lightly "We fed you and let you in when it rained"

Jon and Rachel laughed as Jon added "Wait till you get married, then it's not that your visiting more like imprisoned, cause then they actually halfway own the house" he joked.

"Yeah Michelle that's when they stop cleaning up after themselves, all of a sudden you're the maid and the cook" Rachel retorted.

"I'll never be the cook… at least as long as he likes the house," Michelle laughed.

"So you had a nice Christmas?" Rachel asked Michelle.

"Well we had it a couple days late, because Tony was on a trip, but it was wonderful" she said as she thought back to the day silently in her head.

The men were now having their own conversation so Rachel lowered her voice "So he get you something nice?"

"He bought me a puppy," Michelle said with a huge smile.

"He did?" Gina said forgetting herself once again.

Rachel looked at her "Wouldn't you know? Weren't you there?"

Michelle laughed loudly "Don't mind her she's still blocking out the memory, because he jumped all over her and licked her"

Gina played along "Dog slobber…" she shook in disgust "YUCK!!" she said, "He just had to get you a dog" she rolled her eyes "he _is_ cute though"

"He's adorable" Michelle said.

"I'll give him cute, but adorable?" Gina said.

"Definitely"

Rachel laughed "I love dogs, and let me tell you I've never met a puppy that isn't adorable... so maybe its just Gina"

"Or maybe it's the slobber" Gina insisted.

The rest of the dinner went fairly smoothly "Well guys it's been great, thanks for making the trip"

"No problem, it was great" Tony said taking Michelle's hand in once she had gotten her purse.

"Look at you two" Rachel said indicating to their hands. Michelle turned slightly red and let out a nervous laugh, she wasn't used to leaving her emotions out in the open out like this for people to comment on. Tony smiled and kissed her on the cheek at this, which made her turn even redder. "You two are so cute"

At that they all headed out to the car. As they walked through the parking lot Tony leaned over and whispered into Michelle's ear "It's so cute when you blush"

"It's so annoying, I wish I could control it," she said. "And you just make it worse" she said with a slight smile.

"I could make it way worse than that" he said.

"Oh yeah?" she said quickly not really meaning to challenge him.

"Yup" He pushed her up against the side of the car and passionately kissed her in the middle of the parking lot causing her entire face to turn bright red. When he was finished he smiled and held the side of her face "See, told ya"


	42. Chapter 42 Too Good Is True

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by **_Rascal Flatts_**)

Chapter 42

"I'm out" Gina said.

"Muhahahaha" Tony laughed evilly.

"Sorry I tried to help you out" Michelle said.

"Yeah you were very merciful, unlike Tony" Gina said slapping her brother over the head. "Jerk"

"Hey, easy on the name-calling I'm just doin the best I can, I have a game to win ya know" he said counting his monopoly money.

"We'll see about that," Michelle said rolling the dice. She moved her piece "Ok I'm safe, I own this property."

"For now" Tony said rolling the dice and moving.

"Ooo that's gotta hurt" Michelle said watching him land on her space. "That's gonna cost ya 900"

"Anyone else hungry?" Tony asked.

"Sure, we should go out for lunch after you pay me" Michelle said with a smile.

"Well looks like you're the one with all the money so I guess you're buying lunch"

"Sounds like you want me to cut you a deal" Michelle said with a smile.

"Spare me this 900 and I'll take you to lunch" he said with a pleading smile.

"Your pathetic!" she rolled her eyes getting up to get her coat as Gina started laughing.

"I have to win and this 900 loss would put me in a bad position" he said looking over the board one last time before getting up to find his shoes.

"Yeah silly me, what was I thinking putting you in a "bad position"" she said sarcastically "I don't know what I was thinking"

"You were probably trying to win or something," Tony said.

"Something" Michelle said as Gina began to laugh even harder.

_I guess it's cause and effect  
Your heart and mine  
The way that we connect  
Keeps blowing my mind  
There you go again, it never ends  
What you do to me_

All of a sudden  
I'm not who I used to be  
I had my heart locked  
But you held the key  
And you find a way, everyday  
To show me even more

Some people say we're too good to be true  
But they don't get to be loved by you

_That I have seen the light of day  
Love is finally going my way  
Is it too good to be true  
Give me one more kiss, one more touch  
Baby, I just can't get enough of you  
This time, too good is true_

They were sitting at a diner in town. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"I just indirectly paid you to take me out"

Tony smiled "Yeah you did"

"Your basically a prostitute" she said adding a sugar packet into her tea.

"No I'd only be a prostitute if there was sex involved" he said with a smile "and if there's sex involved why'd we bring my sister?" he said in lower voice.

"You know what?" she said while laughing.

"What?"

"No matter how much I try I'll never be able to kill your masculine attitude," she said

"That's right"

"No matter how many times I make you cry… or win a fight for the remote… or make you do a tampon run… or ya know beat you at Monopoly…"

"Whoa whoa whoa, _that_ will never happen" he said putting a finger up as to signal for her to stop.

"Really cause it looked like she was kicking your butt last time I checked" Gina perked up from the other side of the table.

"Yes and no she wasn't, I was just getting ready to go in for the kill" Tony said as the waitress set out the in food in front of them.

"You better win I've got a lot of money riding on you"

"You bet her for money!?" Tony asked

"No, and I'm really glad I didn't" Gina said "So guess what"

"What?" Tony and Michelle said in unison.

"I decided that I'm gonna tell mom today about the uh…"

"You have to be able to say it" Michelle said gently.

"I know, I will… I'm gonna tell her on the phone so it'll be easier."

"Don't be surprised if she flies home from Florida the second she hears it to come take care of you."

"Don't worry I don't think she will once she hears I'm fully recovered" Gina said.

"Well then in that case I should really be worried because she won't be flying home to take care of you she'll be flying home to kill me for not telling her"

Gina smiled "Wow, this was a wonderful idea"

_Ok this is the last chapter before have a sort of time warp. We're going to skip a couple months because at the rate we are moving right now we'll all be old and gray by the time the fifth season rolls around, well my version of season five at least…lol. Don't worry any cute things that would've happened in the time period we are about skip through will be flashbacked so you won't miss a thing!!_


	43. Chapter 43 One Step at a Time

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by **_Jordan Sparks_**)

_The mood of this chapter is really light and fluffy…:)_

Chapter 43

"I'm here to see Geoffrey Wycoff" Michelle told the woman at the front desk of the Sherman Acres elderly home.

"Ma'am I'm not sure why you're here and I don't know how well you know Mr. Wycoff, but he is not very friendly these days."

"I think I can handle it" Michelle said with a polite smile.

"Okay, he's right over there" the woman said pointing to the man in the corner who was yelling at a nurse who had food in her hand.

"I told you! I won't eat this crap anymore! I'm through with it! Come back when you have regular food for me to eat!"

"Mr. Wycoff?" Michelle said approaching him.

"What now?" he asked with an angry tone.

"You hungry?" she asked.

"Why?" he snapped.

"We could get outta here and get some real food."

"No, they don't let me out" he said bitterly.

"Trust me I'll get you out," she said with a smile.

"What's in it for you" he said bitter, but interested.

"I'm 26 so I'm always on the prowl for dinner with a good-looking half-way decent guy" she said with a smile.

He stopped "Wow, You're bold," he said biting his tongue trying not to smile.

_(Half an hour later)_

Michelle helped Geoffrey in to her car. Once she was in he perked up "You a lesbian?"

Michelle laughed "No, where'd you get that idea?"

"All the hot ones are lesbians these days, at least that's the way it is on TV, I don't get out much so that's all I have to go by" he said "plus you must've done some weird favor for those nurses to get them to let me out of that hell-hole"

"I have my ways," she said with a smile as her phone began to ring.

"See I knew it! You are a lesbian!"

"No way! I have a boyfriend!" she said opening her phone.

"That don't mean nuthin honey, even if you got a husband it don't mean nuthin… not these days" she laughed and pushed the answer button so Chappelle could hear her.

"Look I don't know what kind of TV you're watching, but it _means something_ and I'm _not_ a lesbian!" she said as she put the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"What the hell?" Chappelle said as Tony, who was also listening in on the call thought the same thing.

"Everything went fine Ryan, we're on our way"

"Okay good luck" he said hanging up and looking at Tony. "That was weird"

Tony thought 'You're telling me?' as he walked away.

_(Meanwhile)_

"So I lied," Michelle said with a smile.

"You _are _a lesbian?" he asked.

"No!" she said knowing he was just kidding, "I didn't just bring you out to dinner for your good looks"

"Is it about the fire?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"You're 26, good-looking and as far as I know you have a boyfriend, why else are you taking an old guy out to dinner?"

She smiled "I actually work for the government"

"That's how you got me out," he said.

"We need to know if you remember the gang of terrorists you were persuing"

"I could never forget," he said "there were five of them. We had apprehended all but one but he was killed in the fight. All four were wounded so we were at the hospital while they were getting checked out. There was an explosion and because of the oxygen lines in the hospital it was huge and the entire side of he hospital exploded.

"You were the only survivor out of the team. Your other agents were all blown away"

"Yeah, I can still remember laying on the floor of the burning building"

"Here's where we are at. It seemed as thought everyone had been killed especially the terrorists because they had been right there, but now we are suspecting different."

"Why?"

"We have a security breach, these men had found out security encryptions, but since they had all been killed we didn't update, but now these codes are being used again, and there is no way anyone else could have accessed them because we have up-ed the security since this incident, which leads us to believe that one man made it out."

"I blacked out shortly after the explosion, I don't remember much"

"But you were there, is there any reason at all you can think for these men to be alive?"

"No, they should have all been right in those rooms right by each other, right where the explosions was. If they were anywhere in that hallway there is no chance they lived."

"That entire wing of the hospital was gone," she said thinking. "Would you mind coming back to my office to do a debrief on the event, just so we have everything you know?"

"As soon as I finish my sandwich, this is the first real food I've had in over a year"

_(An hour later)_

Michelle and Geoffrey walked into CTU. Michelle showed him to the debriefing rooms. "So a technician is going to come in and he'll work the recorder right here," she said pointing to the device in front of him as he sat at the table. "He will also ask questions to help bring out details and clarify things"

"Sounds pretty boring"

"It usually is" Michelle said with a smile as Tony walked into the room. "Hey Tony" she said "Mr. Wycoff this is Tony Almeida"

"How are you?" Tony said "Thank you for coming in"

Tony looked at Michelle "We're waiting on Tom… he should be in any minute" He continued to stare at her wanting to say something, but not sure.

"I thought he was sick?"

"Is he?" he asked, "They said they were sending someone down"

"Hey Michelle" Geoffrey said causing Michelle to turn around "That your boyfriend? Cause with the way he keeps at you-"

Just then the door swung open and Ryan came in "Ok lets get this thing started"

"You're doing the debrief?" Tony asked Chappelle.

"Yes I am, is there a problem?" he said challenging Tony to argue.

"I'm heading home then," Tony said.

"Be here early tomorrow… now if you too don't mind, I'd like to get this started so _I_ can go home."

Geoffrey wiggled his eyebrows "they don't mind"

Michelle made a motion for him to stay quiet behind Ryan's back on her way out.

Geoffrey smiled as the debrief began.

"Looks like you made a new friend" Tony smiled as they walked toward the newly finished bullpen.

"Yeah I think grumpy old men are my new type" she said then lowered her voice "so watch out"

"So I'm no longer your type?" he said playfully.

She turned around and looked at him closely as they stood in the hallway with no one around. She looked at his hair and spotted a single gray hair "Actually grow a few more of these and stop grinning so much and you'll be in business"

"Hey leave Ryan alone" he said.

"Ryan? You named your gray hair after our boss?"

"It's dedicated to him since he is the one who gave it to me"

"How sweet" she said continuing to walk toward her computer. She stepped up into her new station, which had screens all around and multiple computers. She unlocked her desk and took out her keys and purse.

"Wanna accompany to my office?" Tony asked.

She looked around; there weren't many people so she answered, "Only if you keep your hands to yourself"

"No promises" he said as he headed up the stairs.

She rolled her eyes and followed him.

_(Half an hour later)_

Geoffrey came out of the hallway into the bullpen and spotted Michelle walking to the exit. "Michelle" he caked.

She turned around "Hey how'd it go?"

"Good" he lowered his voice to a whisper "how was the sex?"

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened "and you said I was bold!?"

"Your hair's messed up and your blushing" he said, "it's obvious." Michelle quickly used her fingers to fix her hair as much as possible.

Tony walked up behind them quietly saying, "there was no sex, trust me.. I wish there were"

She slapped him "here comes Ryan, you two are gonna get me fired!"

Ryan walked up "Geoffrey there is a car waiting to escort you home, thank you for coming in" he looked at Tony "I thought you were going home"

"I am"

_(20 minutes later)_

Tony and Michelle were eating ice cream on their way back to Tony's house. "thanks for the ice cream"

"Well you kinda left me alone for dinner so I figured we could get ice cream" he said with a smile

"Ooo I feel a sugar rush coming on" she said closing her eyes.

"Uh oh" he said scrunching eyebrows "This could be bad"

_(10 minutes later)_

"You know what's weird?" Tony said to a sugared-up Michelle.

"This thing I found in the back of my refrigerator yesterday!" Michelle said with a disgusted face.

"No, not that"

"No really this was _weird_ it was green and black and a really _weird_ shape... I think I saw it move-" she said speaking extremely fast.

"Michelle focus" he said turning her face to him and smiling.

"It was really weird" she finished.

"I'm sure it was bizarre" Tony said "What I was gonna say is a lot times I talk about you…"

"Behind my back" Michelle finished his sentence.

"It's all good stuff" he assured

"Better be"

"But anyway they ask me if you're my wife, girlfriend what, and I want to tell them girlfriend, cause that's where we are right now but girlfriend just doesn't really describe what you are to me."

"Try live-in lover"

"You don't actually live here though"

"I sleep here, eat here, shower here, keep most of my clothes here…" she said "but yes my mail goes to that other address… which I have trouble remembering these days"

"So why don't you just move in?"

"One step at a time"

_Hurry up and wait, so close but so far away_

_Everything that you've always dreamed of_

_Close enough for you to taste_

_But you just can't touch_

_You believe and you doubt_

_Your confused, you got it all figured out_

_Everything you've always wished for_

_Could be yours, Should be yours, would be yours it they only knew_

_One step at a time there's no need to rush_

_It's like learning to fly or falling in love_

_It's gonna happen and it's supposed to happen_

_We live and we learn to take_

"You're just playing hard-to-get," he said with a smile.

"No this is playing hard-to-get," she said running off giggling.

He took off after her 'We should get ice-cream more often'


	44. Chapter 44 Something to Talk About

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by **_Bonnie Raitt_**)

Sorry about the pause in chapters…it's been a busy summer, but I'm trying :) sorry about the delay… I didn't no where to go from the last chapter have kind of a writers block going, but anyway tell me what ya think…

Chapter 44

The next day had been another crazy day at work when Tony and Michelle walked into Tony's dark house. As Tony switched the light on he said, "You know what I just realized?"

Michelle signed as she slipped her shoes off "What?"

"Those two weeks they are sending you to New York fall on valentines day"

Michelle thought for a second "Damn it, I didn't even think of it"

"Why is it he has to kill every holiday?"

"New Years was fun" she smiled.

"Yeah it was" Tony said with a smile "But Michelle" he continued, "This sucks"

"Don't worry you can spoil me when I get back" she said kissing him on the nose.

He nodded his head as she headed toward the bathroom then realization struck him "Hey! What is it with you women anyway? You think I'm just going to spoil you like crazy and expect nothing in return?"

She poked her head out of the bathroom door "Well aren't you?"

"Well…" he sighed "yes, but-"

"Ok then" she said shutting the door, but then poking her head back out "and who said I wasn't going to spoil you?"

_(The next morning)_

"Ahh another day of mind-numbing administrative crap" Tony sighed as he drove toward division.

"You can brush up on your thumb-wrestling skills," she said with a smile.

He smiled "Shut up"

"I have a meeting at division this morning too, but it's not too long so after my meeting I'm gonna head back to CTU, call me when you're finished and I'll come pick you up." Michelle said.

"Sounds like a plan" he said with a smile.

_(Later that day)_

"And I expect as of Tuesday the 10th that all the case file reports be filed with the new formatted cover-sheet" Chappelle said.

Tony rolled his eyes 'Cover-sheets? Does this man realize we have real work to do and we don't have time to make our files look pretty with new re-formatted cover sheets… what a waste of time' Tony thought silently.

The man sitting across from Tony was sweating, Tony noticed, profusely. It wasn't nervous sweating and the room was well air-conditioned so Tony wondered to himself what was wrong with the man. Just then the man passed out. A unified gasp filled the room as Chappelle called the medical team in. "Everybody sit down!' he yelled.

Once the man was taken out Chappelle continued on his rant about proper meeting agendas. As time passed Tony thought more and more about the man who had been sitting across from him. After about 20 minutes a man rush in the door "Mr. Chappelle, I need to talk to you"

"Not now" Chappelle said.

"No, trust me sir, you want to talk to me" Chappelle eyed him carefully, then left the room.

As the whispering and rumors began Tony sat quietly thinking about the man who had passed out. Tony wasn't a doctor, but he knew that usually when the body sweats a lot its either trying to cool, which it probably wasn't in this case… or it's trying to get rid of something… like bacteria…

"Ok, quiet down" Chappelle said coming back. "It seems as though the man who was escorted out, Mr. Tranka, may have come in contact with some sort of infection" he continued "We need to keep you all quarantined in this room while we look further into this" he said starting to leave.

A guard halted him at the door "I'm sorry Mr. Chappelle you are under quarantine as well"

"I'm fine, let me out" He said attempting to push through.

"I'm sorry sir I can't let you do that," he said.

"LOOK! I'm pulling rank here, get me the hell out of here now!" he shouted.

"Calm down Mr. Chappelle it's just a formality"

"Don't tell me what to do!" he said walking toward the other side of the room angrily.

Tony smiled 'Maybe this _will_ be enjoyable'

_(Meanwhile)_

"What are these?" Michelle asked.

"List of people to be interviewed and spots to be filled" Jack said.

"Great" Michelle skimmed the list "Wow we have a lot of positions to fill"

"A lot of people have resigned," he said.

"A lot of people have died," she added on a somber note as her cell beeped.

'Hey, I'm still at division under quarantine, this guy has an infection so they're holding us up to control the spread' the message from Tony said.

"Your boyfriend?" Jack asked.

She nodded her head subliminally and then quickly realized her mistake "I mean no"

"Who is it?"

"Tony"

"So its not your boyfriend?"

"No, it's definitely Tony" she said holding up the phone "Look"

"I believe you, I was just asking if it was your boyfriend"

"What are you saying?"

"I observe people, it's part of who I am as an agent, a good agent pays close attention to people" Jack said "And I notice things"

"What things?" she asked cautiously.

"All I'm saying is that it's not a good idea" Jack said seriously "I've done it before and it is not a good idea, especially from your standpoint"

Her phone beeped again with another message 'No need to panic, I don't think it's a big deal, but I'll call ya when it's over, love ya:)'

"What'd he say?" Jack said with a smirk. Seeing that Michelle was hesitant to show him he said "I'm guessing_ that_ one was personal… usually bosses don't send they're workers personal messages on their personal cell" he smiled "That was observation one"

"You don't think anyone else knows do you?" she said more quietly.

"You two are very low key, but it will come out sooner or later I guarantee"

_People are talkin', talkin' 'bout people,  
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it.  
They think we're lovers kept under cover,  
I just ignore it but they keep sayin' we...  
Laugh just a little too loud,  
Stand just a little too close,  
We stare just a little too long._

_Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about_

"This is insane just insane!" Chappelle said pacing back and forth. Next to Tony. "This is stupid am I right?"

"They're just trying to stop the spread" Tony said 'Plus I don't have to listen to you talk anymore' he thought.

"You're not helping," he snapped.

"Look Ryan why don't you just sit down-"

"Don't tell me what to do" Ryan said "Wouldn't we be showing symptoms by now? How long is this gonna take anyway, I want to go home"

"Me too"

"Do you think we have it?" Chappelle said.

"Probably not" Tony said.

"What if I have it?" he said quickly starting to pace more frantically. "Will I die?"

"How's Tranka doing?" he said.

"Stable" Ryan said.

"Then it doesn't sound too bad, plus I don't know about you but all I did was sit in a room with him, I didn't touch him or go up close to him"

"I'm sweating, wasn't he sweating?"

"You're pacing"

"No I'm sweating just like him" he said starting to panic.

"Accept he wasn't pacing" Tony said rubbing his head.

"I feel dizzy," he said putting his hand on his forehead.

"You're going in circles"

"You feel dizzy?" Chappelle asked.

"Yeah from watching you walk circles."

"I have a wife and a daughter, I shouldn't have to stay here" he said.

"You're not the only one with family" Tony said rolling his eyes.

"You don't have a wife or daughter, not even a girlfriend"

Tony smiled "You sure about that?"


	45. Chapter 45 Secret Smile

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by **_--_**)

Heyy thanks for all the reviews!! They made me happy and got me writing! I tried as much as possible to keep this storyline away from the day three thing which is why you will NOT hear the word virus…lol… anyway here goes… I know its kind of short, but I hope that once summer is over I'll have more time to write:)

Chapter 45

It had been three hours. A full three hours and Chappelle was still pacing, he had slowed but it was still annoying. "Ryan if you don't sit down I swear-"

"Attention!" The guard said, "The quarantine is over, the infection is contained, and the building has been sanitized, sorry for the inconvenience"

"That's it?" Chappelle said stopping "We're not gonna die?"

The guard smiled, "No Mr. Chappelle you get to live to see another day"

"I'm soo relieved" Tony muttered sarcastically heading out of the room. He headed out into the parking garage to call Michelle. He held down the 5 button and began to call, just then he heard the sound of her cell phone ringing. He turned to the left to see her leaning up against her car a few rows down. She looked up and ran toward him, hugging him when she got there.

"Hey you ok?" she asked.

"I told you not to panic," he said.

"I know, but when your boyfriend is being quarantined because he was exposed to a weird infection it's kind of hard not to worry" she said with a nervous smile.

"How long have ya been here?" he said.

"Not long" she lied.

"Michelle…"

She looked at her watch "45 minutes"

"Your crazy" he said with a smile taking her hand and pulling her toward the car.

She followed "Maybe I am" she smiled.

"But that's why I love you" he said opening the door for her.

_Oh what a ride  
What a perfect sky to frame  
Your hazel eyes  
I'd scream on the inside  
But right now it feels like I've  
Been tranquilized  
Oh, what a fool am I  
To be tongue-tied  
Sitting next to her  
The princess and the passenger_

You touch the rain and suddenly  
There's waterfalls  
Now every day is something more  
Worth fighting for

Feet back on the pavement to the  
Basement  
On the bright side of the road  
Fumbling my lines to a lazy cat  
On the step outside her door  
She opens up  
And I'm in the Polaroid  
Standing next to her  
The princess and the passenger

Touching the rain and suddenly  
There's waterfalls  
Now every day is something more  
Worth living for

On a day like this when the world  
Is elevated  
On a day like this when I know just  
Why I waited

_Baby, you make the sun shine down  
You make the sun shine down  
You can paint the darkest clouds  
And turn them into rainbows  
You take your secret smile  
The one that turns me on  
Hey girl, you've been  
what I've waited for_

"Home?" she asked buckling her seatbelt.

"Actually I have to stop at CTU to bring home some final case reports that I was gonna finish after the meeting"

"You're bringing work home?" she groaned.

"Trust me I wish I didn't have to" he said rubbing her thigh as he pulled out of the garage.

As they pulled into the CTU garage they saw Jack on his way out. As they got out of the car Jack said "Hi Tony…." He looked at her and smirked "and Michelle"

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Shut up"

"One car" Jack said smiling.

"What?" Tony said.

"I'll tell you later" she said grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the building.

"Stop" Jack said putting his hand up. "One… you will tell him later as in when you are alone together, and two… you're touching him"

Michelle looked down at her hand holding his arm. "uh…"

"Touching your boss" Jack repeated. "This is how I figured it out, little gestures, watch out next thing you know Chappelle will be all over this" he said with a smile as he got into his car.

"He knows?" Tony said raising his eyebrows.

"Yes he does" Michelle said.

_(Later)_

"What an idiot!" Michelle laughed after hearing Tony's story about Ryan freaking out at the quarantine. "I wish I had been there to see that!" she rolled over on the bed as Tony sat next to her with his laptop.

"Actually I'm glad you were no where near it," he said. He looked at Michelle, she was thinking. "You weren't even in that part of the building when you were there so it couldn't have effected you"

She was silent as she stared at the ceiling thinking.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Fine just thinking" she said quietly.

"Wanna talk?"

"I'm fine" she smiled "Just thinking"

"Ok, well I'm tired" he said closing his laptop. "Ready for bed?"

"Yeah" she said crawling into his embrace as he shut off the light. A few minutes passed in silence.

"Goodnight baby I love you" he said.

"That's it!!" she jumped up.

"What?" he said hurrying to try and find the light.

"He must've moved!"

"What are you talking about??" Tony said turning on the light and looking into her excited face.

"The man in the hospital that got away. Remember that case? We thought one of them might've escaped but couldn't figure out how because supposedly they were all in the same wing of the hospital that exploded"

"Yeah and?"

"They must've moved him at the last minute, the leader of the group had head injuries, they probably took him to get a CT test on his head to check the damage, they always do that for head injuries. He wasn't in that part of the building so he wasn't killed"

Tony stared to connect the pieces with her "And he was still conscious so he could run in the midst of all the chaos"

"And I'm betting he did" she said with a smile.

"A golden opportunity" he said. He looked up into her eyes "You're amazing!" He grabbed her face and pulled her lips to his.

After a minute she jumped off the bed "Let's go"

"Where?"

"CTU, we're gonna bring this guy down" she said changing into her regular clothes.

He smiled and shook his head "Someday I'm gonna figure out a word that describes you"


	46. Chapter 46 Begin Part One

Title: Faithfully Yours

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

Sorry for not updating in like forever, but I'm trying to make time:) This chapter is cut short and your gonna hate me for stopping where I did, but I will update very soon with the rest of this:)

~ Chapter 46 ~

"Ok I just called a few more people in" Tony said, "We need more people, the list is too short, we are way understaffed"

"Yeah Jack gave me a list of positions to be filled" she said, "It's not short"

Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes "We lost a lot of people"

A few minutes later they passed through security into CTU. "Tony here's what DOD had on the initial impression of the injuries to the four men," a middle-aged agent said to Tony.

"No hospital records?" he said looking at the papers.

"Gone in the fire," he said.

"Alright we'll work off of this," he said starting to climb the stairs while looking at the paper he got to the top and made an announcement. "Everyone, I need your attention, our new task is to find and capture Basil Fredor, I need all hands on, lets get this done."

Everyone got back to work and Tony motioned for Michelle to come up to his office. The glass in his office was dimmed so no one could see in. She walked in and he turned around and pulled her into a warm embrace. This took her by surprise, but she ehld him anyway. After a minute she asked "You ok?"

"Yeah" he said still holding onto her, but then releasing her "I just needed that" he smiled.

She smiled "Ok"

"Thank you" he said brushing a curl back.

"_Any_time" she said heading down to her station.

About a half an hour later Michelle's phone rang "Dessler" she answered.

"Hey, anything come up?" he asked watching her from his office.

She sighed "No, nothing yet."

"Ok let me know if you come up with anything"

"Ok but Tony" she said

"Yeah?"

"Did you call Sandy in?" she asked.

"Yeah I did"

"Where is she?" Michelle asked, "I could really use her but she hasn't come in yet"

"I'll try her again"

"Ok"

_(Later)_

"Tony we have a position on Fredor!" Michelle announced across the bullpen

"Dispatch two tac teams tot hat location" he said walking toward her station "looks like we got him…great job"

She smiled "thanks, could've been done a lot faster if Sandy had been here"

"She never showed? She said she was stuck in traffic and would be here soon," Tony said.

"Haven't seen her" Michelle said.

"Pull up the logs" Tony said.

Michelle spun around in her chair and began typing. After a second she said, "Here it is" as it popped up. She read for a second "It says she clocked in half an hour ago" Michelle said confusedly.

"I'll go check on it, you keep monitoring the tac teams, I'll be right back" He said squeezing her shoulder.

Ten minutes later the tac teams had arrived, gotten in to position and for once quite easily within 20 minutes had captured the hostile. Michelle was relieved as Jack from the field confirmed that Basil Fredor was in possession and restrained.

She turned around and looked up at his office. He wasn't there, which was weird. Michelle scanned the bullpen, no sign of him. She turned back around to her desk and snatched up the phone dialing tech. The phone rang and rang with no answer. She hung up and scanned the bullpen again. "Hey Michelle?" Robert said from behind her.

She turned around "Hey Rob, what's up?"

"Basil Fredor is in custody, here's the paperwork. Could ya give it to Tony?" he said handing her a folder.

"Yeah sure" she said.

"Have you seen him?" she asked hopefully.

"No"

"Have you seen Sandy?" she asked.

"No, why do you need something?" he offered.

"No thanks" she said turning back around as Rob headed off. She hadn't seen him in almost half an hour, he was supposed to be overseeing the operation and it wasn't like him to walk away during an important operation.

"Michelle I think I found something" Pete said.

She spun around and headed over to his desk. "What is it?"

"Fredor has been careful about covering his tracks on this one, but it looks like he's been secretly contacting someone form outside the country"

"You have a name?" she asked.

"Yelena Hassar" he said turning to look at her.

She turned and hurried over to her station to get a top priority work-up.

_(25m minutes later)_

Michelle was waiting for it to finish processing and show her the full results. She sat back in her chair and scanned the room for Tony. She hadn't seen him in almost an hour now. She was starting to get really worried. Just then her computer chirped as the final results popped up on her screen. She scanned through the results and her heart instantly dropped at the alias name for Yelena Hassar

"Nina Myers"


	47. Chapter 47 Begin Part Two

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 47 ~

"Nina Myers" the name rang in her head as she ran down the hall looking in every room she passed for Tony. She flew down a flight of stairs and opened the door to the first holding room. Nothing. Then she opened the door to the second and was pulled in and thrown up against the wall. "Don't try anything"

_(Meanwhile)_

Pete walked up to Michelle's desk. "Damn it! Where'd she go?" he said.

"What's wrong?" Rob asked

"I can't find Michelle or Tony"

"That's odd"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Did you tell anyone where you were going?" a man with dark hair and an accent yelled at Michelle.

She stayed silent and in return felt and blow to her abdomen and then a very familiar voice cried out "Leave her the hell alone!"

Michelle looked around the man to see Tony tied to a chair on the other end of the room. "Tony!" she yelled as she was held by her throat.

"Answer me!" he yelled "Did you tell anyone where you were going?"

"She didn't" the other man said "She didn't talk to anyone on her way here, I checked the video"

The man let go of Michelle's throat which she grabbed as she gasped for air. "Get over there!!" the man yelled at Michelle pointing to the corner where Tony was tied up. She hurried over to Tony's side.

"Are you okay?" she whispered when she got there.

"Yeah I'm fine, how about you?"

"I'm ok," she said with a faint smile.

"Get this room set then secure it" The leader said heading out with two other men leaving only one man in the room with a suitcase. Michelle sat at Tony's side on the floor.

"Don't even try anything, you touch him I will kill you, its that simple, you are going to die soon anyway" he said setting up something inside the suitcase. After another minute they heard a few beeps and he closed the suitcase.

"Can you at least tell us what's going on?" Tony demanded.

"Look, I do what I'm told, apparently you got to close to finding someone who doesn't wanna be found and they did something about it"

"What are you doing?" Michelle asked.

"How about you stop asking so many questions!" he said pointing the gun at her. He kept it on them as he walked out of the room.

They heard a buzz and the door locked. Michelle spun around and began helping Tony out of the chair. As soon as his hands were free they cupped her face "Are you sure your okay?"

"I'm fine, what did they do to you?" she asked worried.

"Nothing, I'm fine, but there is no way we are getting out of here" he said.

"This room was designed to be fully escape-proof," she said as he went over and tried to unlock the suitcase. "What do you think is in the suitcase? A bomb?"

He signed "Most likely" realizing that he was never goin to be able to get into it.

Fear washed over Michelle's face. "Tony… we're gonna die"

His heart broke as her eyes began to water "Oh Michelle" he said hugging her tightly. "I don't know what to do, I wish there was something I could do" he was becoming upset, she didn't deserve to die, but they couldn't escape and he was sure they made sure the bomb was impossible to disarm.

"I can't believe it," she said as a tear rolled down her face. He pulled her over into the far corner of the room and sat down with her. She rested her head on his shoulder as he sat with his back against the wall.

Tony looked at Michelle, she was in deep thought. "What are you thinking?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Probably around 2 AM" Tony said "Why?"

"Right now we could be sleeping, in your bed, warm and safe" She sighed "I shouldn't have ever said anything, if I had just let it go we would be at home and-"

"Michelle don't" Tony said lifting her chin "you couldn't have known, you were trying to save other peoples lives by stopping a man that was dangerous"

"If I had just waited… we could be home… we could've lived… we could've so many things"

"I consider myself lucky for ever knowing you Michelle. I love you. I have never loved anyone the way I love you, you taught me what true love was and no matter what I will love you forever"

Michelle was crying now "forever could end any second"

"No" Tony said starting to cry, "it can't" He leaned forward and kissed her passionately never wanting this moment to end. "We are gonna make it through this Michelle"

Another tear rolled down her face "Tony there is no way-"

"_We will make it through this_" Tony said losing control "We _have_ _to_"

"Shh" Michelle hushed as she held him close "I'm here, shhh" She had no idea what to say to calm him, there was really nothing she could say.

"I wanted to marry you," he cried into her chest "have a family"

"Me too" she said kissing the top of his head as tears poured down her face.

"I had the ring, its in my jacket pocket in my office" he sighed "I was gonna ask you this weekend"

"I would've said yes," she said wiping of his tears.

He looked up at her pulled her in for a deep kiss.

She abruptly pulled back a second later "No it can't end like this!" she cried, "It just can't! We have to make it through this Tony!"

"Someone will come for us" Tony said holding her close "Shhh, lets talk about what we're gonna do when we get outta here"

"What if we don't-"

"Don't think about that… we are going to make it out of here… what do you want for breakfast?"

"I don't know," she said quietly trying to bring her crying under control.

"How about pancakes?" he suggested, trying to keep his voice steady and calm for her.

"Okay" she said quietly.

"And then after we eat breakfast we'll get you fitted for your ring… how's that sound?"

She let out a sob "Yeah" then she was quiet. After a minute she said, "What does it look like?"

"What baby?"

"The ring" she said softly.

"Its silver with a princess-cut diamond"

Her lips curved into a faint smile "Sounds perfect"

"It is," he said "I knew the second I saw it that it was yours and tonight when we go home I'll put it on your finger and call everyone I know telling them that _today_ the most amazing woman agreed to _marry me_"

Right as he finished the sentence the lock buzzed and the door swung open. Two men walked in followed by a large man with a rifle. One man grabbed Michelle and the other grabbed Tony and pulled them apart. "Leave her, Yelena just wants him"

The man holding Michelle tazered her and she fell to the ground. "Leave her alone! I'm not going anywhere!"

They dragged him out of the room as he squirmed and kicked to try to get back to Michelle. As they went down the hall and through the bullpen Tony saw all the analysts lined up against the wall shaking in fear. When they got out to the parking lot they climbed into a white van and put a gun to his side. "Make any trouble for us and you die"

As they drove through the parking garage they heard the lockdown alarms sound. They were nearing the gate and two CTU security vehicles cut them off. The van made a sharp turn and flipped on its side. Tony saw this coming and made a grab for the one man's gun and was successful. He pointed the gun at the only man that was still conscious "Don't move"

"You are surrounded! Come out of the vehicle with your hands on your head!" the CTU security men yelled.

The doors flew open and CTU security took down the hostile. "Mr. Almeida are you ok?"

Tony turned and ran back into the building. He stormed into the holding room to find Michelle still lying on the floor. He had to get her away from the bomb. He picked her up and carried her out of the room. As he headed down the hall he saw a S.W.A.T. officer and said "There is a bomb in there that needs to be secured now!"

"We have a bomb in the northeast corridor, get the bomb squad down here now to secure the device and evacuate the building!!"

Tony ran down the hall and out to Michelle's desk. He grabbed her purse and ran to the garage. He laid her gently in the back seat and fished through her purse for her keys. When he found them he jumped in the front seat and sped toward the gate of the garage. A guard stopped him "Identification" Tony flashed his card and they were off into the early morning darkness.


	48. Chapter 48 His Jacket Pocket

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

Sorry its short…I had to give you something though : )

~ Chapter 48 ~

Tony gently laid Michelle down on his couch. It was an extremely cold January morning. He looked at his watch it was around 3AM. He hadn't grabbed either of their jackets so it had been very cold. Tony made Michelle comfortable by wrapping her in her favorite purple blanket she had adopted as hers the first time she had come to his house.

Once she was tucked he started up the fireplace. The room started to warm up. He walked back over to Michelle, she was sound asleep. He knelt down in front of her and watched her. She as so still and relax, the only part of her that was moving was her chest slowly rising and falling. He pulled the covers up and crawled onto the couch next to her. He snaked his arms around her warm body and her head rested next to his. As he fell asleep all eh could hear was her breathing and the crackling fire.

An hour later Michelle slowly opened her eyes. Tony's arms were wrapped securely around her and she was toasty warm. All of the sudden she felt really sick. She tried to sit up but felt faint and slightly dizzy. Tony felt her move and opened his eyes. 'Hey you' he said with a big smile reaching up and holding the side of her face stroking it gently.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?" he knew memory loss was one of the side effects but was interested to see how much she remembered.

"Why are we back at your old apartment?"

"My old apartment?" he asked.

She gasped "Where's your ring!? Did you lose it?" She said scrambling off the couch looking around frantically, but when she tried to stand up she almost fell over from the dizziness. He grabbed her hips and helped her stand straight as he sat on the couch looking up at her.

"Michelle what ring?"

"Your wedding ring!" She said starting to look again.

"Michelle sit down and talk to me" he said, he had to tell her.

"Did you drop it?"

"No sweetie, now listen to me," he said taking both her hands in his. "I don't know what exactly you are talking about. It's January, early this morning you were tazered and I think you are feeling the after-effects."

"Tazered? Tony that was…" she searched her mind "years ago"

"No, it was last night… I think while you were out you had a dream that confused you."

"We're not married?" she asked in disbelief

"No sweetheart, not yet" he said stroking her face. She looked down and thought. "Do you remember what happened after the night you got hit?"

She searched "Umm, no" she said slowly "But … the next thing I remember is our wedding and then us in our new house… we were watching the fire and then I woke up…and… Tony I'm so lost" she said sadly.

"Baby you had a dream. After you were hit I escaped and brought you home and I fell asleep with you around 3"

"So all that was just a dream…the wedding and house?"

"Yeah"

She looked down in disappointment.

"But don't worry because… it's a dream I am prepared to make come true"

Her eyes began to water "Really?"

"Yeah, in fact" He stood up "I'll be right back"

"Tony where are you going!? It's like… " she looked at the clock "6 AM!"

He kissed her "Just trust me"

Michelle watched as he hurried out the door. Once he was gone she dropped her head into her hands. It had seemed so real. She had been so fooled. She looked up at the fire. Her eyes got stuck on the fire as she thought about last night. She remembered that she had been so afraid, not only would she have died, he would have too.

It was awhile before Tony returned. When he got back in he walked over and sat down on the couch next to her. He now had a jacket on she noticed. "Do you know what's in my pocket?"

She though for a second and her eyes grew wide. "the…"

He smiled as he took the box out of his pocket. "I was planning this big romantic night out, but I can't help it… I can't wait any longer." Tony got down on the floor on one knee, opened the box gently "Michelle Dessler-"

She began to cry happily.

He tried so hard to keep his voice steady "Will…" he cleared his throat "will you marry me?"

"Yes!" she said sliding off the couch into his arms "I love you so much!!!"

"I love you more than anything Michelle," He said holding her as tightly as possible never wanting to let go.

When Tony woke up he could swear Michelle was glowing. He smiled as he looked down at her, he couldn't get over that she was almost his… to be able to call her his wife was un-imaginable, he was so excited.

He thought about how excited he was the entire morning. He felt like he was walking on clouds and everything in the world seem happier, it amazed him. He was even perfectly happy with listening to Ryan Chappelle lecture the entire staff at the meeting. He sat there sneaking glances at Michelle trying not to be obvious and desperately trying to stop smiling but he couldn't. He thought about how stupid he must look which made him laugh.

"Something funny Almeida?" Ryan said turning to him.

Michelle looked toward Tony and knew exactly why he was laughing and buried her face in her hands to hide her laughter which she was having trouble controlling. Tony glanced at her and saw her head down and laughed harder. "It's nothing Ryan, trust me… just something I said yesterday, he's been taunting me… just continue" Jack tried.

Ryan shot him an annoyed look "You people need to learn to act professionally…this is not a game…which you should have learned yesterday" just then he noticed Michelle with her face in her hands shaking slightly. "Michelle?"

"I'm fine," she said.

It was then that Ryan spotted the ring on her finger "Your engaged?" he commented.

The laughter stopped immediately she looked up so afraid "Yes… I mean… well"

"Congratulations" Tony said trying to keep a straight face.

"Tha-" Michelle tried not to laugh "Thanks Tony"

"Yes congratulations" Jack said.

"Can we move on now?" Ryan snarled impatiently.

Tony said covering his smile, which was growing once again "Yeah I think we're good"


	49. Chapter 49 Congratulations

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

Ok I just realized a crazy mistake I made…Tony's sister-in-law…the one married to his brother Jon has had three names…I don't know how it happened…anyway her name is Hanna…. even though I called her Rachel and even Candice (Candice is Danny's wife). Sorry for the confusion:)

~ Chapter 49 ~

When the meeting was just about over Ryan said "Okay everyone that should be it for now, you are dismissed, but Tony I need you to stay."

Everyone got up and left immediately. Michelle was the last to leave, she smirked at Tony as she left the room. "What's up Ryan?"

"We need new employees now. Last time you and Michelle did the hiring if I remember correctly so we are gonna do that again and it needs to be within the next…" Ryan continued to talk as Tony stared out the glass walls at Michelle in her station. He watched her pick up the phone. After a minute she smiled slightly, then all of sudden looked very worried. Tony began to worry as he saw her hurry to the conference room.

"Excuse me sir," she said to Ryan as she opened the door "It's really important" she said locking eyes with Tony.

"We will cover this via teleconference tomorrow morning" he said collecting his folders "I'll expect your call at 9"

"Ok" Tony said still staring at Michelle as Ryan left, "What's wrong?" he said as she came over to the table. "Hanna is in the hospital… its about the baby and it doesn't look good"

"Oh no" he said as his face sunk "They were so excited"

"I know," she said sadly.

"I have to go see them," he said "I guess I'll take tomorrow off since its Friday anyway and go for the weekend… you can come of course"

"Won't that be suspicious?" she said.

Tony scratched the side of his face "You're right"

"I can head down tomorrow after work" she said "Since we don't work weekends"

"That sounds great" he said "I hope everything will be ok" he said putting his head in his hands.

Michelle went to rub his head but pulled her hand back. She had to be careful so instead she said "I hope so too"

_(Later that night)_

"Do you have everything?" Michelle asked while sifting through his bag.

"Yes sweetie" he said with a smile wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing the back of her head.

"Liar" she said turning around in his arms smiling up at him.

"You're right" he said, "There is something I need that I forgot to pack"

He picked her up and sat her in the suitcase "I don't think it's gonna fit" he tickled her

She giggled "not…. that"

"Maybe this one needs to ride first-class" he said continuing to tickle her.

"Stop, stop, no, no" she giggled.

"Ok, what did I forget then?"

She caught her breath as her laughing subsided "Toothbrush"

He rolled his eyes "You women and your…"

"Good hygiene?" she finished with a smirk.

"I have good hygiene," he said defensively.

"You wouldn't have without me," she said wagging her finger.

"I still think what I was packing is more important to me" he smiled.

"Unless you plan on marrying your toothbrush, I agree"

He kissed her "Speaking of which" he said, "What do you want to do about my parents?"

"Maybe another time…this weekend they will have enough to worry about" she said.

"I was thinking the same" he said, then smiled "by the way… congratulations"

"Yeah, you're real funny"

Michelle helped Tony load up the car, gave him a kiss, and hurried back into the house. As she headed back into his house she realized that she hadn't been at her house in awhile. She liked being at his house because it was cozy, she could sleep in the bed, Garren was there and most of all that's where Tony was which made it feel like home.

She turned on the TV and Garren jumped into her lap and they both soon fell asleep. Michelle awoke an hour and a half later to her ringing phone. "Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Hey baby, did I wake you?" Tony said gently.

"Yeah, but it's ok… I'm glad you called" she smiled.

"I wanted to let you know I got here ok and that I miss you" he said.

"Miss you too," she said as Garren climbed up her chest and licked the phone. She giggled "Stop it Gar…. Sorry he's licking the phone"

Tony smiled "You have everything? Make sure you lock the doors"

"Ok they're locked Tony" she smiled at his protectiveness "I'll be fine"

"Ok then I'll let you go back to sleep… goodnight sweetheart"

"Night Tony" she said smiling.

(Later)

Tony lay awake in his mother's guest bed. He remembered the last time he spent the night there Michelle had been so nervous about meeting his parents. He missed her. He decided to see if she was awake. So he texted her 'Heyy you up?'

A few seconds later 'How'd you know? :)' She had answered.

'I'm good…that's how' he smiled as he texted her.

'Keep telling yourself that and you'll never be able to come home again because your big head will never fit through the front door' he laughed as he read her message.

'Cranky are we?' he smiled.

':) I need sleep, but I can't sleep without you' she replied.

'Same here, just think only 17 hours until you get here :)'

'That thought might just get me through the night:)' she replied with a grin as she glanced at the clock.

'Goodnight baby, sweet dreams'

'Goodnight Tony, I love you'

"Love you too" Tony smiled as he sent the last message. He went back and re-read her message a few times 'Goodnight Tony, I love you'. He smiled every time he read it. The thought of her as he closed his eyes helped him drift into a peaceful sleep.

_Thanks for all the reviews!!!! They mean sooo much! You guys are amazing!_


	50. Chapter 50 The One Guy

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

Wow here we are Chapter 50!!! Thanks so much for your support throughout! Its hard to believe it took 50 chapters and they are JUST getting engaged…. we got lots to go:)

And just in case someone is not aware a Barbie is a little girl doll and Ken is her boyfriend lol

~ Chapter 50 ~

Michelle woke up and looked at her clock "3:52AM". She groaned and wished she could just sleep. After another half hour of trying to sleep she gave up and got out of bed. 'Since I can't sleep I'll get my packing done now' she thought as she pulled a suitcase out of the closet.

It was now about 5:15. Michelle zipped up the suitcase as she finished packing. Her phone rang "Hello?"

"Hey, I thought you'd be awake" a familiar voice said.

"I've been awake for awhile, I just finished packing," she said with a smile.

"You are going to be exhausted tonight," he said.

"Luckily I'll be able to sleep tonight," she said as her smile grew.

"Me too" he sighed happily. "Ha-ha you have to go to work today" he taunted.

"At least I don't have to have a teleconference with Ryan Chappelle" she teased.

"Damnit! I forgot about that! I thought I was going to have a good day…"

Michelle giggled then noticed her stomach growling, "I'm hungry"

"Don't try anything crazy… I left muffins on the counter, fresh fruit in the fridge and some yogurt…be careful" he warned.

"What am I gonna mess up with fruit and yogurt?"

"I don't know, but you amaze me sometimes" He said with a smile.

"I'll do my best," she laughed; she couldn't believe he had thought ahead and ran out to get all kinds of food just for her. "Thank you so much"

"I couldn't let fiancé starve" he smiled. She heart jumped, they were engaged…. she got butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too baby and I'll talk to you later" he said.

It was 5:30 and Michelle decided to head to work early so she could leave as soon as possible to be with Tony.

_(Later)_

Michelle pulled up in front of his parents house "You have arrived" the GPS announced. She shut it off and turned off the car. She stared up at the house, she was nervous. She felt weird just walking up to their house, 'what if he's not there?' she thought.

Inside Tony's cell rang a minute later. "Heyy sweetie" he answered.

"Hi" she said as her face lit up from hearing his voice.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Out in front of your mom's house" She answered.

"Why don't you come in?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Why don't you come get me?" she said as her smile grew. She got out of the car and closed the door.

"I'll be right out"

She smiled as she shut her phone and leaned up against the car. A second later he came out the door smiling. As he walked across the lawn she stood straight and when he got close enough she reached out and pulled his face in for a deep kiss. It was so nice to feel him again, she had missed the feeling he gave her. When he was around she felt complete she felt warm and most of all she felt loved. Whenever he was around she knew she was wanted and didn't have to worry about saying the right thing or acting a certain way, she could just let her hair down and be herself and he loved her no matter what. She looked up at him "I missed you" she said wrapping her arms around him.

"I missed you too baby" as he hugged her he smelt her, he loved her smell, she smelled fresh and clean and her smell had quickly become his favorite scent… the smell of home.

She pulled back "So how's your sister?"

He scratched the side of his face "It doesn't look too good"

"I'm so sorry Tony," she said hugging him.

"They think they are going to lose the baby," he said sadly into her ear. "They're going to try surgery but they're not optimistic"

"They were trying for so long too," she said sadly.

As he hugged her he felt her begin to shiver "Come on, let's get your bags and get you inside" He grabbed her bags and she closed the trunk.

As they walked toward the house she looked sideways at him "So how was that teleconference with Ryan?" she asked with a smile.

"Don't even get me started," he said with a sigh. She laughed and held the front door open for him. "Thank you"

"Oh honey do you have all those?" Tony's mom said trying to grab the bags from Tony as they walked in. Tony pulled the bags away. "Hi Michelle, how are you?" she greeted.

"I'm fine" Michelle said about to hug his mom when all of a sudden he grabbed her hand and pulled. "Tony what-"

"Excuse us" once they were out of sight he backed her up against a wall and slowly slipped her ring off "So Michelle don't forget that classified teleconference tonight" he said as Michelle gave him a completely confused look "they're listening" he whispered softly in her ear. "Make sure you go somewhere private, it's important," he said loud enough that they could hear without being obvious.

"Okay, thanks for reminding me" she said with a smile trying not to giggle.

He leant down and whispered in her ear "I love you but my mom can't find out about this yet" he said indicating to the ring.

She smiled "Okay" and gave him a light kiss before they headed back out.

"Sorry mom" Tony said.

She smiled pretending she hadn't heard anything, "It's fine."

_(Later)_

"Hanna talk to me! Please!" Jonathon pleaded with his wife as she lay in her hospital bed silent. He stormed out of the hospital room into the hallway where Tony, Michelle, Joe and his mother and father had been watching. "I've been trying for two hours…. nothing!"

"Let me try" his mother said. And after 15 minutes of crying and begging Hanna to talk she came back out. Next his father tried. 25 minutes later he came out with no luck. Joe and Tony went in next. They begged and pleaded and even tried yelling but nothing had worked.

"Just give her time Jon" Tony said. He turned to Michelle "You must be starving Sweetheart, you wanna go get something to eat real fast?"

"Can I try?" Michelle asked staring at Hanna through the glass window.

"What?"

"I want to talk to her," Michelle said.

"Honey, I think she's having a break down and-" Tony tried to explain.

"Can I?" she asked.

Jon nodded his head and she walked into the room. She stopped at the foot of the bed. Hanna was curled up facing the left wall. Michelle walked over to the right side of the room and climbed into the bed. Hanna looked at her surprised and slightly uncomfortable as she moved over a little to give Michelle room then curled back up and looked away again. Michelle laid on her back and stared at the ceiling.

"When I was young my favorite were Barbies" Michelle said simply. "I played with them all the time. They made me happy cause nothing bad ever happens to Barbies, they have to always be happy, they can't frown because the smile is painted on. My four girl Barbies would always fight over the one guy Barbie." Michelle smiled at the memory. "I made sure that my favorite Barbie always won, nothing bad ever happened to her… it was nice to escape my problems and pretend to be my favorite Barbie who never had anything bad happen, who always won Ken"

Hanna rolled over and quickly burst out "Why are we talking about Barbies?!"

"You wanna talk about having children?" she asked.

"No" she said quietly.

"Ok then" Michelle said with a soft smile.

"Can we talk about something else?" Hanna asked shyly.

"Anything you want" Michelle said.

Hanna got comfortable facing Michelle now "your first kiss" she said with a smile.

"Ugh, that was a complete disaster… very depressing" Michelle said with a giggle.

"Ok boyfriends then" Hanna said with a smile. "Let's here about your boyfriends"

"I have found that I can categorize all men I date into two groups, the ones that are completely out there… as in never gonna happen, and the ones that are settling, which means that I could stay with them forever and get along with them and it would be ok… but I don't want ok. I want amazing. I know that there is one guy out there who is absolutely perfect, a guy who will take my breath away every day… who will make my knees go weak when he whispers in my ear… who can see right through me and even when I'm trying to be tough and stubborn… with one word he can make me melt… the one who I love, but I can never express how much I love him because it's so much I can't even grasp it." She took a breath "but mostly it's between the settlers and the crazies"

"Oh yeah" Hanna said with tears in her eyes "Which category does Tony fall into? Crazies or settlers?"

"He's the one guy"

On the other side of the glass Tony bit his lip, trying desperately to hold in his emotions as a tear ran down his cheek. A tear rolled down Hanna's face "Oh my god, your sure?"

"Every single man I've ever met…the settlers and the crazies… have never been able to fit half of my high standards"

"But he fits them perfectly?" she asked with a smile.

"No" Michelle said "He exceeds them in every way"


	51. Chapter 51 Every Time

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 51 ~

When Michelle and Hanna were finished talking they hugged and Michelle got up off the bed and headed out. As she walked out the door Tony was there waiting. He pulled her into a tight hug.

She heard Jonathon say, "Thank you so much Michelle" as he headed into Hanna's room.

"You're amazing you know that?" Tony whispered in her ear softly. After a minute he let her go.

"You did a great job, thank you" Tony's father said as his mother said thank you too.

Michelle smiled politely. "You must be hungry," Tony said holding out his hand.

She took his hand and replied, "starving"

_(Later)_

"I'll have the fish," Tony told the waitress.

"Steak and mashed potatoes please" Michelle raised an eyebrow as the waitress walked away "Fish? I've never seen you eat fish"

"Trying something new" he said with a smile.

_(Later)_

Tony and Michelle pulled up to his parent's house. "Thank you for taking me out to dinner" she said with a smile as she leant over and kissed him.

"Anytime" he said after they finished.

As they walked into the house his mother invited them over to the couch "So, what's new?" she asked sipping a cup of tea.

Tony smiled "Nothing that I can think of"

"How about you Michelle?" she asked.

"Mostly work, there has been a lot going on so work has been eating up a lot of our time"

"Aw, that's too bad" she said.

Just then Tony's dad walked in "hello Tony and Michelle, how was dinner?"

"Good" Tony said scooting closer to Michelle on the couch.

"Mind if I put on the news?" he asked.

Everybody agreed it was fine and they all began watching together. Tony rested his head on Michelle's shoulder "you okay?" she asked.

"I don't feel 100%, I think I'm just tired," he said.

She opened her arms and turned her body so he could lay his head on her chest. When he did so she began rubbing his head as they continued to watch the news. Tony fell asleep about five minutes later, but Michelle didn't want to move him so she continued to rub his head as she talked with his parents.

About ten minutes later she felt Tony started gagging and within a few seconds he began vomiting. She jumped in surprise as his mother ran for a bucket. He began to wake up half way through and held his mouth running to the bathroom. "Oh no!" Tony's mother exclaimed as she re-entered the room with a bucket.

"I'm so sorry" Michelle began apologizing.

"It wasn't your fault, it's okay, things like this happen"

Michelle carefully stood up and headed upstairs toward the bedroom. As soon as she was in the room she peeled her shirt off and got a fresh one from her bag. None of it went through her shirt but it smelled awful. Just then she heard him in the bathroom. She walked in and saw him over the toilet. She sat next to him and held his hand and rubbed his back. "Feeling any better?" she asked as he sat back against the wall.

He panted, "Yeah, a little…Michelle I am so sorry-"

"Don't be," she said, "I'm fine, lets take care of you"

She helped him up slowly and held his hand as they slowly walked toward the bed. He was dizzy and unsteady so she helped him walk. He sat on the bed and she helped him take his shirt off and lay down. She turned around and saw that his mother was there with a glass of water.

"You feeling okay honey?" she said feeling Tony's head.

"Uh huh" he said with a nod.

"I'm gonna go clean up the mess" she said as she walked out.

Michelle crawled into bed with Tony and snuggled up against him. "Anything you need?" she asked kissing his shoulder.

"Just you" he said wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling his face into her hair.

"I'm here," she said "I love you," she said rubbing his back.

"Love you"

After about an hour Tony's mom entered the room to see them curled up together she smiled slightly and began looking for messy clothes. Michelle who hadn't really fallen asleep asked "Everything okay?"

His mom perked up "I was just gonna do some laundry, is there anything you need me to wash?"

Michelle slithered out of Tony's arms and walked over to the bathroom. She walked out and handed Tony's mom his shirt, but as she did a little black box fell out of the pocket. Tony's mom gasped "Is that…?" she bent down and picked it up. She opened it slowly and gasped again at the beautiful ring "he was gonna propose!" she said in utter shock.

Michelle's jaw dropped, she had to play along "Oh my god!"

"We should pretend you never saw this!" she said slipping it in her pocket. "I can't believe it!" she was reeling as she hurried downstairs to tell her husband.

Michelle closed the door and groaned. She crawled back into bed and snuggled into Tony's arms. She whispered lightly "Tony? You awake?"

"I heard the whole thing," he muttered.

Michelle smiled and closed her eyes 'This is going to be interesting'

The next morning Tony woke up first. He felt so much better. He pulled away from Michelle carefully, wrapping her in the thick comforter. He headed downstairs where his mother was already cooking. "Good morning mom" he said entering the room.

She turned around with a huge smile on her face "Good morning!!" He began preparing his coffee "So…what's new?" she asked.

"I feel much better" he replied.

"Well that's good, anything else?" she questioned.

"What do you mean?" he said playing dumb.

"How are you and Michelle?" she hinted.

"We are great," he said with a smile loving to tease his mom.

"That's good" she said disappointed "What do you think of her?"

He smiled; he just couldn't find a proper adjective "I'm in love with her"

His mother smiled, she was getting somewhere now "Already? Wow"

"I've never felt this way about anyone, I'm so sure"

"Oh? And uh… what are you gonna do about it?"

"Well I picked out this ring…"

"I know! It's gorgeous!" she broke out, finally giving up the game.

"What? How did you know??" Tony said still playing dumb.

"I found it in the laundry!!" she explained pulling it out of her pocket.

He gave a surprised look "Oh no! Did she see it?"

"Nope! I hid it!" his mother lied.

He sighed "Oh thank you!" trying so hard not to laugh.

"Sit down with me, we should talk before you do this" she said.

'I already did it but ok' he thought as he answered "Okay" with a slight smile.

"Are you completely sure she not like… you know…"

"She is absolutely nothing like Nina, I trust her completely and you should too"

"I've been trying, but part of me still worries that she could hurt you"

"She would never hurt me, I know it for sure," he said looking her straight in the eye.

She nodded silently thinking. "She loves you, I can tell" Tony nodded with a smile. "I wouldn't let a man I didn't love throw up all over me and then sleep with them"

Tony smiled "Yeah, I don't know how I got so lucky"

"You should do it today" his mom said excitedly.

He smiled at her excitement "Today? You think? Right after I threw up all over her?"

"She loves you, she'll say yes," she said. "You should take her out to the backyard right by the pond and do it"

"You think?" he said struggling to keep his composure.

"Yeah!" she said looking out the window.

"Ok" he said hugging her. "I'm gonna go see if she's awake" Tony said heading back upstairs. He entered the room and smiled at the sight of her snuggled and sunk into the huge thick blankets. He climbed onto the bed and crawled under the covers and scooped her warm body into his arms from behind nuzzling his face into her neck.

He heard her take a deep breath in as he kissed her neck. He shifted slowly and turned over to face him opening her eyes slowly. "Hey baby, how are you feeling?" she asked in a light whisper.

"Much better" he said with a smile kissing her forehead. "Guess what I get to do today"

She smiled, intrigued "What?"

"Propose to the most amazing woman ever"

"Again?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah… I know it's like the third time" he chuckled.

"You think she'll say yes?" Michelle giggled.

"I've had a good record so far…. I'm 2 for 2"

She laughed, "I have a feeling she'll say yes"

_(Later)_

"Does anyone want desert?" Tony's mother asked.

They all said "no thank you"

"In that case Tony, can you come here I need your help"

Tony let go of Michelle's hand under the table and followed his mother into the kitchen. "Yes?"

"Here" his mom said handing him the box. "Good luck" she said giving him a kiss with a tear in her eye.

He smiled and hugged his mother then headed back out to where Michelle and his father were. He walked up behind her and whispered in her ear "Come with me"

She smiled and followed him holding his hand. "Where are we going?" she whispered.

"You might want to get your coat," he hinted.

Once they both had their jackets on he led her outside. As they walked side-by-side he whispered in her ear "You ready?"

She looked up at him and smiled kissing him "Always"

He brought her up to the edge of the pond and glanced at back to the house and saw his mom peeking through the window. Tony took both of her hands "Michelle, it hasn't been long, but it seems like I've known you forever, I can't imagine life without you, without snuggling up to you every night before I go to sleep and waking up to your beautiful smile every morning…" He brought his left hand up to her cheek, ready to wipe the tears he could see were coming "I've fallen in love with you and I get this amazing feeling every time I'm with you and I want to have that feeling for the rest of my life" he smiled and got down on one knee slowly as tears came down her face "Michelle, will you marry me?"

"Yes" she said dropping down on the ground into his arms, hugging him tightly as she cried happily "every time"


	52. Chapter 52 Inside Out

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 52 ~

"_Michelle, will you marry me?"_

"_Yes" she said dropping down on the ground into his arms, hugging him tightly as she cried happily "every time"_

This moment would live forever in his memory as one of the happiest moments of his life. A small tear rolled down his cheek as they kissed. As they broke the kiss she had the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face and she was laughing. She spotted the tear and kissed it as she continued to laugh and smile. He smiled and picked her up and swung her around. They both laughed and kissed once again as he carried her back toward the house.

As they neared the house he remembered they had an audience. He stepped inside and out her down as his mother hurried over with tears in her eyes giving them big kisses and smiling. Tony was turning red from all the excitement. He leaned over and whispered I'll be right back as he headed for the front door. Michelle didn't have too much time to wonder because his mom was so excited saying "Oh!! So when do you want to have the wedding!?"

Michelle's jaw dropped "Um I don't know, I haven't really thought about it," she lied. She had been thinking about the wedding for a while, even before he had asked her. She was so excited and had so many ideas, but felt really awkward sharing them right now with his mother.

"Do you want children?" she asked with a huge hopeful smile.

Michelle smiled nervously "Yes we do, not yet, but someday"

Tony's mother clapped her hands and gave Michelle another kiss. "Ooo I can't wait!" she giggled patting Michelle's abdomen.

Michelle nodded her head and decided to go hunt for Tony. She headed out the front door and saw him sitting in a chair on the porch. "Hey you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" he said with a smile putting his arm around her as she sat next to him.

"You were flustered"

"Yeah, I was" he said. "I know you'll never believe me with the way I act around you, but I'm not an emotional guy. I'm not all touchy feely"

Michelle giggled at his scrunched up face "yea?"

"I don't really show emotion, I'm professional and composed," he said looking down at his hands.

"Yea?" she asked playing along.

"I don't blush, I don't get upset, and I DEFINITELY don't cry" he still stared down so he didn't notice her smile.

"Yea?" she smiled trying not to laugh.

"Especially not in front of-" he looked up "Shut up!" he broke out laughing. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close to him snaking his arm around her waist tickling her. She giggled and squirmed in his arms. Finally she broke loose and ran into the house and up the stairs. Tony was quick behind her once they got into the hall on the second floor Tony couldn't see her. The agent in Michelle instantly kicked in…she was just starting out, but she had taken a few courses. She slid up against the wall. She heard him slow down. Once he passed the small hallway she was hiding in she ran up behind him and jumped on his back.

He jumped and caught her so she was now riding on his back. He stepped into the room and jumped onto the bed. They came crashing down with Michelle on top. She tried tickling him as he lay on his stomach. He turned his head "I'm not ticklish"

Michelle tried tickling his armpits…nothing then she tried his neck, still nothing then she tried the side of his left thigh. He began squirming like crazy "Not ticklish huh?" she laughed continuing to tickle him.

He flipped over with her still on top of him straddling him trying to tickle him. He tickled her sides and as they both laughed his mother walked in and stopped when she saw them "Ooo…sorry didn't mean to interrupt" she said leaving quickly.

"This looks bad right?" Michelle whispered to Tony.

"It looks pretty bad" he smiled. Sitting up to give her a kiss.

"That's ok," She said continuing to kiss him. He cupped her face.

He smiled "Yea it's ok" as they laid down together continuing to kiss. He ran his hands all over her loving knowing she was his. She was so perfect; he loved every inch of her and could never seem to get enough. His hands sent chills through her body. She giggled because while it felt so good it also tickled. Her squirming made him laugh as he kissed her.

"And the point I was trying to make before" he whispered to her, his lips centimeters from hers "was that" his lips brushed against hers "I'm never like this, around anyone" he kissed her lightly "but you"

She smiled "Okay"

"So when people all of a sudden think I'm mushy cause they see the way I act with you and they get all mushy on me I freak out cause its weird…but with you its natural, I love being mushy with you" He kissed her softly "cause" he looked deep into her eyes "Woman you turn me inside out"

Heyy! Sorry its short, but I just wanted to post something:) more to come!!!! Thanks as always for reading and pleeeease review!


	53. Chapter 53 Getting Better

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 53 ~

"Tony and Michelle! Dinner!" Tony's mom called.

"Ready?" Tony said as Michelle gazed at the TV.

"I guess," she said with a smile as he pulled her up off the couch and they headed into the dining room.

"Hanna and Jon are coming to dinner, she just got out of the hospital" Tony's mom said right as the doorbell rang "I bet that's them". She hurried off to the door.

Tony and Michelle took their seats "Ok everyone have a seat we are gonna bring back an old family tradition.... meal time game night!"

Tony smiled "This should be interesting"

"Ok we are playing that interesting questions game, I'll go first...you pick a card, read the question and roll the dice to see who answers it going clockwise...ok here's the question...what was your favorite childhood toy?" she rolled the dice and counted landing on Tony.

"Favorite toy" he muttered "hmmm it would have to be that one soldier action figure...I took it everywhere" everyone giggled remembering the beat up little toy "...yeah Danny the soldier had lots of adventures"

Tony took a card "Ok this one asks 'What is your favorite memory of your father?'" he rolled and landed on Jon.

"Definitely the time we went on that ferry ride and dad got the officer to let me go see the captain he smiled he told him I was dying of a rare illness"

Tony's mother gasped, "I cannot believe you!" she said to her husband that's terrible!!

The entire table laughed as Jon took the next card... "Ok last thing you got scolded for by your parents for," he rolled the dice and it landed on Michelle.

Tony looked over to her, she seemed to be in a daze thinking, not even realizing she was being spoken to "Michelle?" he said squeezing her hand gently, then he remember what Michelle had told him about the last time she saw her dad and he had yelled at her for coming.

"I just remembered that pass code for the data file Ryan was trying to retrieve" she lied as she excused herself and headed toward the bathroom.

Tony watched her go, his family was quiet for once she'll get the next one he said with small smile "I am going to go make sure everything's... cleared up" he got up and walked toward the bathroom.

He knocked on the bathroom door lightly then he heard a small voice say "Its open."

He walked in she was sitting on the edge of the tub with watery eyes "I have to get better at this" she sighed, "Look at me… I'm a mess"

"Sweetheart your doing fine" he said sitting next her and pulling her close "You have had to endure so much, and most of it alone" he kissed the side of her head "But your not alone anymore, I'm here… never hesitate to let go"

"But I have to be able to have a normal family conversation without breaking down in tears this is ridiculous"

"And you will, just give yourself a little time to heal" he looked straight into her eyes "You are the strongest person I know, you can overcome this and I'm here for you every step of the way"

She kissed him slowly then said "You might think I'm strong but I can't do this without you"

He stroked her face "You don't have to"

_(Later)_

Michelle headed upstairs to get the bags together as Tony headed to the kitchen "Hey mom I just wanted to let you know me and Michelle are gonna head home now"

She turned around "Ok but umm" she looked around and hesitated "Is Michelle okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"She looked like she was about to cry at the table"

He hung his head "Look she's had some really rough times with her family"

"Like what?" she asked

Michelle walked in "Heyy Tony are you ready?"

"Yeah sweetheart I'll go bring the bags out," he said leaving.

"Are you okay honey?" his mom asked Michelle.

"I've never been better" she smiled.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely" Michelle said with a smile trying to reassure her but she could tell it wasn't working.

_(Later)_

As they drove home Michelle's phone rang Dessler

"Michelle?"

"Elizabeth!!" Michelle squealed "Oh my god I haven't talked to you in forever!!"

"Michelle Dessler you are in so much trouble! I have been going completely insane trying to get in touch with you!"

"Worst best friend of the year award?" Michelle said with a pained smile.

"Of the decade!!" Liz laughed, "You have no idea how worried I've been! ... You never told me you got a new cell number and you haven't answered your home phone in months!"

"Oh my god it's such a long story" she said.

"This better be good" Liz said.

Michelle glanced over at Tony "You have no idea Liz"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah like to start off… I'm engaged"

"WHAT!?" Liz yelled.

Tony smiled "Geez I heard that from over here!"

Michelle smiled "Yea"

"I'm not gonna lie I had some doubts about you and Jay, but as long as your happy...."

"No no no!" Michelle stopped her "Its not Jay"

"WHAT!?" she yelled again, Tony just shook his head with a smile.

"His name is Tony," she said with a huge smile.

"Don't you think this is a little fast?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life"

"Wow!...Seriously?...You can trust him that much after a few months?"

"He has saved my life in so many ways...your gonna hate me for not calling, but..." her excitement died... "Last year I was kidnapped and killed"

There was silence on the other end.

"Tony rescued me and nursed me back to health while... meanwhile Jay was off cheating on me and drinking"

"I have no idea what to even say," she said quietly.

"Brace yourself..." Michelle said sadly "Remember Carrie?"

"Yea your _second_ best friend" she said emphasizing on the second.

"Well now I could kill her so don't worry"

"Why? What happened?"

"She started dating Danny then left him and drove him to commit suicide which... almost worked"

"I can't even believe what I'm hearing...he's ok right?"

"Yeah he's actually healthy and back with his wife and kids now"

"That's good to hear...you scared the hell outta me...now who's this Tony guy?"

"You should meet him" Michelle smiled and looked over at Tony.

"Yeah?" Liz asked "When?"

"When are you free for dinner?" Michelle asked.

"Tomorrow night?" she suggested.

"Sounds good"

"Ok, I'll see you then"

"Ok bye" Michelle said hanging up.

"Why do I have the feeling I just got sucked into something?" Tony smiled shaking his head.

"I spent the weekend with your mother you have dinner with my best friend" she grinned.

He glanced over at her "Your lucky your so cute"


	54. Chapter 54 This I Promise You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 54 ~

"We might as well just eat off the floor," Tony said with a half smile leaning up against the wall watching Michelle, who was on her hands and knees scrubbing his kitchen floor.

"Oh! You're back! Did you get the furniture polish?"

He held out the bag "you know you don't have to do this"

She stood up and walked over to him taking the bag "This is what I do sweetie"

"Can I help you with something?"

"Nope, I'm good…you can just focus on the food" she said pointing to the stove.

"Alright baby" He sighed "I'm gonna go shower then I'll start dinner" he stepped over and kissed her on the forehead "Go easy inhaling those chemicals"

"Haha your so funny" she patted his butt "Now get up there and hit the shower"

_(Later)_

Michelle glanced at the clock over the oven '6:13' She walked up the sink and glanced sideways watching Tony cook "She's late"

Tony looked up and smiled "I'm sure she'll be here"

The doorbell rang and Michelle's face lit up. Garren jumped off the couch and bolted toward the door barking. Michelle hurried after him grabbed his collar to hold him back as she opened the door. "Hey!!" she greeted Elizabeth.

"Michelle!" she answered giving Michelle a hug as Garren ran off into the yard.

"Tony! He ran!" Michelle called.

Tony came running up behind her "Excuse me" he said squeezing past them and taking off after the puppy.

Michelle laughed as she watched then turned back to Liz "It's so nice to see you!"

"So this is where you live? I didn't even know you moved," she asked looking around.

"No, actually this is Tony's house, but I basically live here" she said with a smile.

Just then Tony came in the front door with Garren in his arms, they were both out of breath "He's definitely getting faster" Tony panted.

The women giggled as Michelle took Garren "You gave him a good run for his money didn't you! Yes you did!" she cooed.

Tony rolled his eyes "I better get back in the kitchen before our food burns"

"Oh Tony this is my friend Liz, and Liz this is Tony" they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you" he said with a smile then he headed back into the kitchen.

Once he was gone Liz smiled "He cooks?"

"If he didn't we'd starve"

Twenty minutes later they were all seated and eating "So how's your sister doing?" Michelle asked Liz.

"She's good, Julie is graduating this year"

"Wow, time really flies" Michelle paused "Tony I see you"

A guilty smile played on Tony's lips "See what?"

Michelle peeked under the table "I told you not to feed him at the table…come on Garren" she called. The dog sauntered out from under the table shooting Tony a pleading look.

"Sorry buddy that's it for now" Tony said shrugging his shoulders.

Michelle shook her head "Anyway I can't believe she's already graduating!"

"Yeah we took her prom dress shopping last week she picked out a pretty blue dress"

"I remember my dress was navy blue with sparkles and-" She gasped "Tony!"

Tony broke out laughing as the dog took off from under the table chewing on a piece of chicken. "He was so hungry!"

She slapped him in the arm "He's never gonna stop begging if you keep giving in!"

"But he's so cute!"

"Oh please man up," she said with a smile "he can have leftovers when we are finished"

The phone rang "I got it" Tony said getting up. "Hello?" he answered his home phone. "No I can't… I really can't… Ryan why does it have to be tonight?.. Who did?.. and they… fine… yes I'll be there in about fifteen minutes" he hung up. "Sweetheart they need me at work"

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We have a priority lead," he said. "I'm so sorry to have to leave like this" he apologized to Liz who nodded.

He walked out of the room to go get his coat. "I'm sorry I'll be right back" Michelle said following him.

As she came down the hall he pulled her close to him "I'm so sorry" He cupped her face and kissed her gently "I will be back as soon as I possibly can, I promise"

She eyed him closely and kissed him again with a sad look in her eye she began to walk away.

"Hey" he grabbed her arm and pulled her back "What's wrong?"

She looked down, he could tell whatever it was she didn't want to say. "Just _please come back_ as soon as you can"

He read her mind "I will be fine, and I _will_ be home… I promise"

Her eyes were watery "I love you Tony"

"I love you too baby, I'll see you soon" he gave her one more kiss and headed out the door.

_When the visions around you,  
Bring tears to your eyes  
And all that surround you,  
Are secrets and lies  
I'll be your strength,  
I'll give you hope,  
Keeping your faith when it's gone  
The one you should call,  
Was standing here all along.. __  
_

I've loved you forever,  
In lifetimes before  
And I promise you never...  
Will you hurt anymore  
I give you my word  
I give you my heart (give you my heart)  
This is a battle we've won  
And with this vow,  
Forever has now begun...

Just close your eyes  
Each loving day  
I know this feeling won't go away  
Till the day my life is through  
This I promise you  
This I promise you

Over and over I fall  
When I hear you call  
Without you in my life baby  
I just wouldn't be living at all...

And I will take  
You in my arms  
And hold you right where you belong  
Till the day my life is through  
This I promise you baby

Every word I say is true  
This I promise you

_(4 hours later)_

Tony walked in the door quietly and slipped his jacket off. He peeked in the kitchen and saw everything was cleaned up and the lights were off. He headed into the living room to find two sleeping women, a roaring fireplace, and snacks scattered as far as the eye could see. _'I left them alone in my house and this is what I get'_ he thought with a smile. He walked over, leant down, and kissed Michelle on the fore head. Her eyes shot open and she threw her arms around him "Thank you" she whispered in his ears as she hug him tightly.

"Your welcome" he smiled as he gave her a kiss. He looked around "So? Is this what slumber parties look like?"

She smiled sheepishly "Yea"

"I see your dog is doing his job protecting you," he said pointing to Garren who was fast asleep on Michelle's legs.

She smiled "he takes good care of me, keeps me company and keeps me warm"

"Good, he's doing his job, but now it's my turn to take care of you" he said sliding her out from under the covers and pulling her into his lap.

"So what happened?" she asked as he held her.

"Ryan freaked out, it really wasn't as bad as he made it sound" he rolled his eyes. "The Dyerolo cell spiked in activity and one of the members was dropped off dead in the CTU parking lot, with his dead body was an armed bomb," Michelle gasped so Tony quickly finished "But I was at Division and the bomb squad got it disarmed"

"Ready to go to bed?" She asked resting her head on his shoulder.

"Yea, wanna wake your friend up?" he asked looking over at Liz who was snoring.

Michelle smiled "yea" she stood up and swayed almost falling over "whoah"

Tony steadied her "you ok?"

"I feel a little dizzy and my head hurt, I think I'm just tired."

She rubbed Liz's shoulder and Liz woke up "Come upstairs and I'll get you a bed" Michelle offered with a smile.

As they walked down the hall way Michelle began to sway again and Tony instinctively grabbed her hips and steadied her. "You sure you're ok?"

"I'm fi-" she threw her hand over her mouth and ran into the bathroom. She threw up and Tony rubbed her back. Once it subsided she sat on the floor against the tub. "I knew it"

Liz stood in the doorway "New job, engaged, you got something else to tell me?" she asked with a smirk.

Michelle was totally out of it "What?"

"Am I planning a baby shower?"

"No, definitely not" Michelle said feeling nauseated again.

"I'm gonna get you some water ok baby?"

"Thank you" she said panting.

"Remember the last time you were sick?" Liz asked.

"Ughh I don't want to remember that" Michelle groaned.

"Man, when you get sick you really get sick" she said shaking her head.

"What?" Tony asked as he walked in.

"Michelle, she barely ever gets sick but when she does it's the worst I've ever seen"

"Here sweetheart" he said handing her the water. She gulped the water and he picked her up off the floor and carried her to his bed laying her down gently. He pulled a small trashcan next to the bed. "You want to take something?" he asked stroking her head "you're burning up"

"It won't help, it never does… I just gotta ride it out" she said with her face in the pillow.

"I hope you feel better Michelle, goodnight" Liz said heading back to the guest room.

Tony changed and snuggled up behind her and she turned her head "you're gonna get sick"

"I don't care, you need me so I'm here" he said burying his face in the back of her neck.

"Thank you, I love you," she whispered not fighting because she did need him there.

"I love you too baby, goodnight"


	55. Chapter 55 Angel of Mine

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things.

~ Chapter 55 ~

The next morning Tony sauntered into the kitchen. He looked up and saw Liz "I'm sorry I slept so late, you can help yourself to coffee, breakfast, anything you need I was just up all night with her"

"Don't even worry about it, what time did it stop?"

"Around 5:30 we fell asleep on the bathroom floor" he rubbed his eyes "At 6 I carried her to bed and cleaned the bathroom, I fell asleep at 6:30"

"You poor thing" she said as she watched him make coffee.

"So you've seen her sick before right?" Tony asked.

"Yea" she answered shaking her head.

"What comes next?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Sleep" she answered with a smile. "Lots and lots of sleep… like seriously _days_ of sleep"

"Oh thank God…" he said with a smile and sigh of relief "No more puking?"

"Nope that's just in the beginning," she laughed. "It's the same every single time"

"Sorry it had to happen last night, with you here visiting and all"

"Sorry it had to happen at all" she answered "But it's ok I can come back and visit next week or something I don't live too far"

"Good" he said, "I think I've got a lot to learn from you" he chuckled.

"Probably" she laughed, "Oh and by the way do NOT bring food anywhere near here for the next few days… unless you want to be up all night again…I made that mistake and I felt so bad"

"Thanks" he chuckled "What does she eat?"

"Absolutely nothing, she goes into like hibernation, but don't worry she'll get better in fact, the first sign that's she's getting better is she'll be hungry that's a _very_ good sign" she smiled.

"She usually has a _very_ good appetite" Tony smiled "She eats double what I eat"

"Really?" she laughed

"Yea, its funny"

"Well, I'm gonna get goin" she said finishing her coffee. "it was nice to meet you" she said hugging him.

"Same here, hopefully when Michelle's better we can make plans"

"Sounds good"

Once Liz was gone Tony slid into bed behind Michelle. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her warm body towards him. He rested his face against hers and realized it was very hot. He felt her forehead; she was running a high fever. "Michelle?" Her softly stroked her rosy cheeks "Sweetheart, you ok?" She didn't respond. He kissed her and her eyes opened lazily.

She sighed "Hey" she said in a very faint weak voice.

"You feel warm, really warm baby… I need to take your temperature" he reached for the thermometer on the bedside table and she cuddled closer to him.

"I'm freezing," she said cuddling closer as she began to shiver.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled the covers over them "Your cold?"

"Freezing" she whispered struggling to keep her eyes open.

He cradled her head "C'mere" he put the thermometer under her tongue.

'102.1' he read but she pulled it out of his hand and squinted to see it "Don't worry, I've had worse, I'll be fine" she whispered running her thumb across his chin.

"I'm really worried about you baby" he said kissing her hand "how do you feel, where does it hurt…be honest"

"Alright…" she sighed "My head is killing me, which makes me dizzy and nauseous when I move, I can't keep my eyes open and I'm freezing which makes me shake and my muscles all ache…" she started breathing faster and faster as she got upset.

"Shh it's okay baby" he pulled her as close as possible "I'll keep you warm just relax" he kissed her head gently "I love you" in her ear and she was fast asleep.

A few hours later Tony was awake again he headed downstairs and heard Michelle's phone ringing. He looked at it 'Danny' he put the phone down and let it ring. He made himself a sandwich and heard the phone again. He walked over and saw it was her brother and she had 6 missed calls from him. "Either it's something important or he's really worried, but either way this is not good' he picked up the phone.

"Michelle?!" Tony heard Danny say frantically.

"I'm sorry this is Tony Almeida."

"Michelle's boss?"

"Uh yea…" Tony stopped 'I forgot he doesn't know about us…this was a bad idea'

"Where is my sister?"

"She's in the other room, she's busy but I'll have her call you as soon as she returns"

"Ok thank you, I was just worried"

"Okay she'll be in touch with you soon" Tony said closing her phone. He walked into the bedroom with a glass of water and sat down on the bed next to her. Her kissed her and she began to move "Michelle" he stroked her face.

"It's ok I'm not thirsty" she said.

"Sweetheart you haven't had anything to drink since last night, please have a sip, you need to stay hydrated" she eyed him "Please Michelle, for me"

"Okay," she said accepting the glass of water

He helped her drink it "And by the way your brothers been calling, he's really worried about you"

"Okay" she said sitting up slowly "Here, I'll call him" she said opening her hand for the phone. She dialed Danny's number "Danny?" she said sounding much stronger, but he could tell by the look on her face that she was in pain and she cringed every time he talked "yea I'm fine, I've just been really busy" she squeezed her eyes closed "no, no, I'm just feeling a little under the weather I'm fine…. No, don't… I'm okay, I just need some sleep… the doctor? No, it's not serious I'm really okay, just tired from work… no don't, I'm not home… uh…my boyfriend's house, he's taking care of me… yes Tony…so what?" she said getting defensive, Tony took her hand in his "I know what I'm doing Danny… that doesn't matter… I'm in love with him… I know that… yes, now I have to go, I'll talk to you later okay? … I will, bye" she hung up the phone a closed her eyes with a sigh.

Tony slid her back down under the covers, crawled in behind her and wrapped his arms around her "I love you Michelle"

"I love you too Tony" she said as he kissed the back of her neck.

_(An hour later) _

The doorbell rang and Garren ran off barking, Tony's eyes shot open 'who the hell could that be' he peeked at Michelle who was still fast asleep and he slowly pulled away and tucked her in, once his arms were no longer around her keeping her warm and safe she instinctively curled up. He smiled as he watched his angel sleep

_When I first saw you I already knew  
There was something inside of you  
Something I thought that I would never find  
Angel of mine_

_I look at you, lookin' at me  
Now I know why they say the best things are free  
I'm gonna love you boy you are so fine  
Angel of Mine_

_How you changed my world you'll never know  
I'm different now, you helped me grow_

_Nothing means more to me than what we share  
No one in this whole world can ever compare  
Last night the way you moved is still on my mind  
Angel of Mine_

_I never knew I could feel each moment  
As if it were new,  
Every breath that I take, the love that we make  
I only share it with you  
_

_What you mean to me you'll never know  
Deep inside I need to show  
You came into my life sent from above  
When I lost all hope, you showed me love  
I'm checkin' for ya, boy you're right on time  
Angel of Mine_

…until the doorbell rang again 'Geez'

He stopped before he got to the door realizing he had no shirt on, only sweatpants, he doubled back to grab a shirt and ran to the door. He opened the door to see Danny 'wow good thing I put a shirt on' he held Garren by his collar and opened the door all the way "Hey Danny, come in"

Danny slowly walked in "I'm sorry to just show up, but I'm just worried about Michelle, she didn't sound good on the phone"

"She's been sick for a few days now, she's pretty tired" Tony rubbed his eyes.

"Cute little dog you got there" Danny said petting Garren.

Tony smiled "Yea it's Michelle's dog"

"I didn't know she had a dog... anyway speaking of Michelle, I brought her some lunch" Danny said with a smile holding up a McDonalds bag.

Tony's eyes widened in fear "Uh… she can't have that right now, she' sleeping and the smell of food makes her sick...really, really sick"

"When's the last time she ate?" Danny asked.

Tony knew he wouldn't like the answer "Dinner"

"Yesterday?!" Danny asked, "I need to see her"

"She just fell asleep" Tony lied.

"I won't be long then," Danny said.

Tony sighed, he really didn't want to wake her but he wasn't going to upset Danny "Alright" he led Danny toward the bedroom "How'd you know where I live anyway?"

"I was looking for Michelle a couple months ago when Carrie and I were together and she brought me here"

Tony raised his eyebrows "Oh...ok" as he walked up the stairs he thought 'Still creepy that Carrie's been to my house'

When they entered the room Danny looked at Michelle. She was completely surrounded by pillows and warm blankets, cozy and fast asleep like a baby. She was wrapped up in thick comforter, he hurried to Michelle "Michelle?" he said rubbing her arm to wake, she didn't respond.

A few seconds later her face turned sour and her eyes shot open, she sat up quickly, she was still swaying. She took a breath and put her hand over her mouth running to the bathroom 'oh crap the food!' Tony thought "Danny it's the food!" he said as he followed Michelle into the bathroom.

She was hanging over the toilet panting, but nothing had happened yet. She was groaning as her stomach ached. Danny came to the door of the bathroom but neither of them noticed.

"Shh, com'ere" he said kneeling behind her and wrapping his arms around her resting is chin on her shoulder "Calm down, just breathe slowly " he said softly in her ear, he heard her try to breathe at his pace, as her breathing became synchronized with his she let herself relax into him so he was holding her in his lap "good job" he whispered and kissed her head.

She nodded, "Its gone" she whispered with her eyes closed.

"Ok sweetheart, lets get you back in bed" he said lifting her with him and helping her back to the bed, he helped her get into bed "Better?"

She looked up at him "I love you," this surprised him, but he was always happy to hear it.

"I love you too baby" Tony said stroking her face.

"Hey Michelle I'm really sorry about the food" Danny said twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"It's ok you didn't mean it" she said in a weak voice.

"I'm just worried that you're not eating, you need food Michelle"

"I'll be ok," she said with a weak smile "It happens every time"

"Well I can tell you're really tired so I won't keep you too long"

She smiled warmly "thank you for coming Danny"

"Your my little sister I was worried, that's all" he said.

"Thank you" she said.

"Love you Michelle" Danny said nervously.

"Love you too Danny, I'll see you when I'm better, send Candice and the kids my love too"

"Ok I will bye," he said walking out.

"I'm gonna walk him out" Tony said following Danny. He caught up with Danny downstairs "Hey Danny"

Danny spun around "Yea?"

"Thanks for coming"

Danny nodded "You better take good care of her"

"I will" Tony said as Danny left. Tony closed and locked the door and sighed, "Better than you know"


	56. Chapter 56 Smile

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Uncle Kracker_)

~ Chapter 56 ~

"Good morning" Tony heard as he felt her warm lips meet his. He opened his eyes to see Michelle smiling down at him.

"Hey you look better" he smiled.

"Yea looks like I beat it" she said rubbing his head.

"Good cause I've missed you" he said kissing her as she rolled onto her back "...so much"

She smiled as she kissed him "I'm here"

He kissed her hard as his hands ran over her body "Good"

She giggled as she kissed him.

He pulled back "What?"

She pulled his face toward hers "nothing" she said and started kissing him again.

After a few seconds he cupped her face and pulled back by only an inch so their lips were almost touching "What's so funny?"

"Nothing sweetheart, just... you hit one of my ticklish spots" she giggled.

"Yea?" he asked with a smile. He ran his hands over her body again "which one?"

He reached her side right above her hips and she squirmed "that one" she giggled.

"Yea? That tickles?" he said doing it more with a smile.

"Yes! Ah! Stop!" she squirmed as she giggled. She squeezed out from under him, rolled out of the bed and ran down the hall. As she ran she felt herself become weak and she crumbled to the floor next to the kitchen table.

Tony, who had no idea, slowly walked out of the room "Oh you are soo sneaky aren't you?" he laughed as he walked down the hall. He got downstairs "You're hiding? It's ok I'll find you and when I do-" he stopped in his tracks when he saw her on the floor sweating and panting. "Oh my God sweetheart are you ok?"

She just managed to whisper "Help"

He slowly picked her up and carried her back to the bed. He slowly laid her down she was still shaking and sweating.

"I'm..." she tried to speak but it felt so hard to breathe she had no extra air to talk "I'm... not... better"

He climbed into the bed and pulled her in, holding her tightly "It's ok sweetheart, just breathe, I know"

After a few minutes she was still shaking and sweating but she was breathing more normally "Your late for work" she said looking at the clock.

"It can wait," he said holding her close "This is more important"

Ten minutes later Michelle was fast asleep so Tony slowly slid out from behind her and wrapped her up tight and headed to the shower.

When he got out of the shower she was still sleeping curled up in a ball so he left her a note, gave her a kiss and headed out to his car. His car gave him problems starting but finally it started and he pulled out leaving only Michelle's car in his driveway. He liked the thought of her being in his house alone and he definitely liked coming home to her.

When Tony walked in to CTU Chloe rushed up to him "Tony I'm having some problems calling the mainframe security log codes do you know when Michelle is coming in?"

"She called out sick, but I can help you, I'll meet you in Tech 2 in 15" he said thinking 'oh this is gonna be so fun'

"Hey Tony, I was just initializing the off-site servers but i keep getting an Double Loader Error" Adam said walking alongside Tony.

"Shut down the station and initialize while they're down using remote access" He replied as he stared up the stairs to his office.

"My network doesn't have that capability," Adam said.

"Use Michelle's station" he replied as he reached his office. He let out a sigh as he sat down in his chair. His phone rang "Ughh"... he picked it up.

"Tony its Ryan"

Tony rolled his eyes and thought 'perfect...only 7 and a half more hours..."

_(4 hours later)_

Micelle opened her eyes slowly all her body parts felt like lead as if she were paralyzed. She saw a yellow post-it note on the lamp next to her...

_'Heyy Sweetheart:)_

_Hope your feeling a little better, there is a bottle of water for you, pleeease drink it...for me:) Give me a call if you get a chance3_

_Love Always,_

_Tony'_

She smiled.

_You're better then the best  
I'm lucky just to linger in your light  
Cooler then the flip side of my pillow that's right  
Completely unaware  
Nothing can compare to where you send me  
Lets me know that it's ok yeah it's ok  
And the moments where my good times start to fade_

_Even when you're gone  
Somehow you come along  
Just like a flower poking through the sidewalk crack and just like that  
You steal away the rain and just like that_

_Don't know how I lived without you  
Cuz every time that I get around you  
I see the best of me inside your eyes_

_You make me smile like the sun  
Fall out of bed sing like bird  
Dizzy in my head spin like a record  
Crazy on a Sunday night  
You make me dance like a fool  
Forget how to breathe  
Shine like gold_

_Buzz like a bee  
Just the thought of you can drive me wild  
Ohh you make me smile_

She reached for her phone, after all he could probably use a pick-me-up and he was the only way she was getting back to sleep. She held 5 and put the phone to her ear.

"Almeida" he said with a sigh.

"Hey it's me," she said quietly.

"Hey Sweetheart, how ya feeling?" he said in a lighter happier voice.

"All my muscles are sore, and I have a slight headache but I'm good"

"Your muscles are just tired from all that shaking" he sat back in his chair "so how are you doing on that bottle of water?"

Michelle's eyes widened as she stared at the unopened bottle "I was just about to take a sip actually" she said with a smile.

"Right" he said shaking his head "I'll be home in less than 4 hours and if you don't drink that water no special surprise for you"

"Surprise?" she asked perking up.

"If your a good girl" he said smiling.

"I can't wait" she said.

"Me neither" he added as he spotted Jack heading toward his stairs "Look sweetie I gotta go, please relax and drink your water, I'll be home as soon as I can"

"Okay" she said with a smile.

"Hey Michellle?"

"Yea?"

"I love you"

"I love you too honey" she said sincerely "See ya soon"

_(Later)_

"Michelle" she heard Tony call as he walked down the hallway toward the bedroom. He entered with a bag in his hands "Lets see that empty water bottle" he said with a smile and to his surprise she tossed him an empty water bottle.

She opened her arms "now where's my surprise?"

He slid his shoes off and crawled onto the bed snuggling into her arms.

She attempted to slide the bag out of his hand but he clutched it to his chest "ah ah ah" he said playfully "not yet"

She scrunched her nose "What? I drank all my water!"

"Yes and I'm very proud of you but before you get distracted..." he pulled her close and began to kiss her.

She kissed him back and as she did she slowly slipped the bag out of his hand. She opened it and glanced down then pulled back "Grey's Anatomy!" she said excitedly with a smile.

Tony laid back with a sigh "and so it ends..."

She smiled and pulled him back in for another long and slow kiss that left him breathless "Thank you Tony"

He took a few breaths "Your welcome"

"How was work?" she asked lightly.

Tony groaned and rolled over to put his face in her pillow. "Too long"

"I thought you liked work?"

"I'm still getting used to being director and to be completely honest" he paused "it sucks when your not there, the building feels empty, I can't glance down and see you...that keeps me going so... I really miss you the whole time"

Michelle smiled "You're adorable"

He rolled his eyes and groaned again "wonderful...'adorable'...ugh thats what you call the dog..."

She giggled and pushed him "shut up! you know I love you more than Garren!"

"That's sooo reassuring" he said rubbing is eyes.

"Hey! Am I marrying the dog?" she asked pulling his chin in her direction.

"If you are I'm not paying for a tux"

"Tony!"

"Just saying..."

"Who keeps me safe? Who takes care of me? Who knows me better than anyone? Who loves me whether I deserve it or not? Who holds me and knows exactly how to touch me? Who is the love of my life? Who do I wanna spend the rest of my life with?" she eyed him closely "Tony I'm warning you..."

He smiled and sighed, "I do"

"That's right" she said kissing him "You _are_ adorable, but unlike Garren your also handsome, trustworthy, honest, sexy, loving and trust me NOTHING...especially not a dog, could EVER replace you"

He chuckled and kissed her.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

He smiled tenderly and ran his fingers through her hair "Your adorable"


	57. Chapter 57 My Life Would Suck Without U

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by_ Kelly Clarkson_)

~ Chapter 57 ~

The next morning Tony woke up to the smell of coffee. He opened his eyes slowly, Michelle was nowhere to be found. He got outta bed and checked the bathroom. Nothing. Next he hurried down to the kitchen afraid of what he may find, he found her sitting at the counter reading the paper. "Michelle," she looked up and smiled.

"Good morning"

He slowly walked up behind her "What are you doing?"

"Reading the newspaper, want some coffee?" she asked, her voice was no longer weak or groggy.

"Honey you should be in bed, what are you doing?" he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, she had just showered and her hair was damp and she smelled fresh, he closed his eyes and snuggled into the back of her neck taking in her scent.

"I'm fine I feel 100% better and" he kissed the back of her neck over and over and she began to giggle "...and you need to get ready mister or we're gonna be late for work"

He pulled back "We!?" he said "Sweetheart I'm glad you're feeling better but you can't go back to work!"

Michelle stiffened "I'm fine"

"Yesterday you thought you were fine and I found you on the floor shaking, give yourself some time to bounce back" he said holding her face.

"I'm ready," she said standing up, she wasn't mad; she knew Tony was just protecting her.

Tony took a step toward her so they were inches apart with her back against the wall "Please baby, just give yourself one more day"

She looked him deep in the eyes "I promise you, I'm better, please... trust me"

He searched her eyes "Ok… but I'm bringing you two water bottles to drink, you need to eat something and you need to promise me that you'll tell me if you feel sick"

"I promise," she said sincerely.

He cupped her face and kissed her tenderly. "I just don't want you to be in pain"

"I know" she stroked his face "I love you"

"I love you too"

"Now get ready for work," she said with a smile.

_(Later)_

Tony pulled Michelle's car into the CTU parking garage, parked and turned the engine off. "Ready?" he asked her as they held hands.

"Absolutely" she said with a smile.

He kissed her hand "Ok" he let go of her hand as they got out of her car and headed into the building. Michelle headed into the bullpen and Tony took a different route to his office so they wouldn't be seen entering together 'We are gonna have to go public soon, but today is not the day' he thought.

"Michelle I initialized all but one of the off-site stations, but I'm having problems with the downtown one" Adam stopped Michelle as she passed him.

"That's because the downtown site is not directly linked to our servers, call Pete Camran at Division and he'll help you" she said sitting down at her desk. She saw Jack intercept Tony as he entered the bullpen.

"Hey Tony I need to speak to you" Jack said.

Tony glanced across the bullpen at Michelle then followed Jack to the conference room "What's up?"

"I found someone to help Adam run Comm., she'll need training, but I think she'll do a great job."

"Alright who is it?" Tony said leaning on the table.

"Kim" Jack said looking down "Look, I know it seems weird, but she's gone to school for this type of work and she's qualified"

"Won't that be a distraction?" he asked "Look, I know it seems like a good idea, but I'm not so sure it is"

"Why? Simply because she's my daughter?"

"Yea" Tony said scratching the side of his face "Look you know how intense it gets when the threat levels rise, we need you focused"

Jack smiled slightly "It bothers you because it would be an inter-office relationship?"

Tony stopped; he knew where Jack was going "Fine"

Tony turned to leave "Oh and Tony"

Tony turned around and Jack said "Ryan's coming in, prepare yourself"

Tony dropped his head "Perfect" he said walking out before Jack could mention why he was coming.

_(Two hours later)_

"I need a full report on the first set of system diagnostics," Tony announced as they all sat in the conference rooms "We need to work out all the problems now so that when threats come we are fully operational with absolutely NO technical difficulties. I expect the reports from all department heads 2 hours before the night shift comes in. That's all" he finished.

As everyone left Ryan Chappelle entered the conference room as Chloe pulled Tony aside. As Chloe was complaining about the current lag in Comm. system logs Tony saw Chappelle hand Michelle a folder. "Ok Chloe we are bringing in another Comm. person, relax"

Tony walked over to Michelle and Ryan. "…in New York, it's a small facility, but you'll be staying right outside the city, here's more information about the training"

"And how long is this course?"

"A little over 2 weeks, you'll be out for about 3 weeks, but we need at least one ranking officer to be trained in this type of crisis management according to Homeland Security"

"Wait what's going on?" Tony asked.

"Michelle is being sent away for training next week, Division is sending you another agent to take her place and possibly stay as it appears you are still slightly understaffed, I need you to personally get him up to speed seeings how he will be your temporary second in command"

"Why wasn't I told about this?" he asked impatiently.

"No reason, this is not your decision, this is a direct order" He handed the last packet of information to Michelle "Call my secretary if you have any questions and I will see you next Monday at division with your belongings" he said leaving.

"What's going on?" he asked once Ryan was gone.

"I'm going to New York for training, it's only 3 weeks"

"Only?" Tony asked, "Your just getting over being sick"

"I'll be fine, I have no choice, I need this training"

Tony sighed defeated "3 weeks… Ryan just has a way with making my day…"

Michelle smiled "I'm sorry"

"Don't be, it's not your fault…it just sucks"

_Cause we belong together now  
Forever united here somehow  
You got a piece of me  
And honestly  
My life would suck without you_

_(An hour later)_

"I need department heads in the conference room," Tony announced from the top of his stairs.

Once everyone was inside and seated "Ok, I have few announcements" Tony signed "We have just found that one of our servers is missing a firewall so I need all people running off of subnet 2 to change over to 1 until Chloe can restart that system, second, because of this, please send a list of tasks for the night shift with your diagnostic reports, third, make sure all your logs are recorded in military time, I've noticed some slip-ups which we cannot afford and last Michelle is leaving for training for three weeks and we will have a temporary chief of staff, make sure all logs are clear and up-to date to make this transition easier." Tony looked around waiting for Chloe to ask a question, but she didn't, she was too busy looking at Michelle. "That's all"

"Congratulations" Chloe said to Michelle as everyone was filing out.

Michelle was writing when she noticed the ring, she stopped and eyed Chloe closely "Thank you Chloe"

"It's an engagement ring right?" Chloe asked, attempting to be social.

Jack looked up and stared at the ring then glanced from Tony to Michelle and smiled. He looked back down at his paperwork. 'Great' Tony thought 'Now that Chloe knows, everyone's going to know by tomorrow and it won't be long til they figure out who gave her the ring' he smiled, he was so proud to be her fiancé.

_(Later that night)_

Tony and Michelle were lying in bed. Michelle was sitting up with a laptop in her lap and Tony was lying next to her on his back staring at the ceiling.

"I hate Ryan Chappelle" he stated "and Homeland security...and Chloe's personality"

Michelle giggled and hit him lightly in the side "Stop it, she can't help it," she laughed.

"Stupid big mouth"

Michelle smiled and looked down at him "Why are you so cranky?"

He looked up at her "My bad ankle hurts and there's a beautiful woman in my bed and she's not even looking at me!"

Michelle blushed a little and smiled "Sorry my boss says all the files in the SDO directory need to be reformatted by tomorrow morning"

He groaned "Really? Your boss huh? ...Ugh you've got to be kidding me" he sighed. He got up "I'll be right back"

Michelle continued to work, and then her phone rang. She picked it up, flipped it open and put it to her ear "Dessler"

"Michelle, it's your boss" Tony said. Michelle smiled and put her laptop aside. "I'm canceling the last task I gave you, I have a new top priority assignment for you" Michelle hopped off the bed and crept down the stairs.

"And what is that?" she asked, and then she snuck into the living room and spotted him. She slowly walked up behind him.

"Well to start...actually you might wanna write this down...," he said with a smile.

She began to kiss him on the back of the neck taking him by surprise causing him to drop the phone. His neck went limp as she sucked on the side of his neck under his ear. A minute later she stopped and whispered, "What were you saying?"

He looked up and grabbed her under her arms and lifted her over the back of the couch pulling her on top of him, he kissed her deeply and she held onto him tightly as they fell onto the couch together. He ran his fingers through her hair then she felt his hands begin to roam the rest of her body, caressing her in all the right places. After a few minutes he nuzzled his face into her neck and wrapped his arms fully around her, he was breathing heavily as he whispered "I don't know what I'm gonna do without you"


	58. Chapter 58 Never Had a Dream Come True

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by)

_*_

_Before I start I just want to say a little something…_

_For all of you that are reviewing, thank you SOOO much for all your wonderful reviews!!!! They mean the world to me:) They are what keep me writing and I am so grateful for all of them!!_

For those of you who haven't reviewed please review! Even if it's just a word or two, just let me know you're out there reading, and thank you so much for reading all of you!!!

*

~ Chapter 58 ~

"Your crazy" Tony said shaking his head as he leaned against the bedroom doorframe watching Michelle hurry back and forth around the bedroom.

"Crap! Where is my brush?"

"Under the towel on the bathroom sink" Tony answered with a chuckle.

"Ok" she said packing the brush in her bag "Have you seen my sweatshirt?"

"Ya left it at your house, you can take my blue one, I know how much you like it"

She stopped and smiled "thank you baby" she kissed him and put the sweatshirt on. It smelled like him, which she loved.

He loved it when she wore his clothes "Do you really have to go?" he asked with a sigh.

"Come on Tony, you know I do" she said with her head tilted to the side "I don't want to leave, but I need this training" she kissed him on the side of the face and then turned around and zipped her suitcase up and pulled it off the bed onto the floor. Her phone rang, she searched her pockets and found it "Dessler"

"Michelle, its Ryan I'm sending a car to your house to take you to the airport"

"Oh no, that's okay Ryan, I have someone to give me a ride" she looked through her purse and mouthed silently to Tony 'where are my keys?' Tony smiled and held the keys up then turned and ran with them. She smiled and rolled her eyes "Look Ryan I gotta go" she said hanging up and chasing after him.

_(An hour later)_

"Don't forget what I said about these classes," Tony said as they walked through the airport.

"No matter what they say it is always a competition" she smiled rolling her eyes.

"That's right, I'm always kick-ass at these classes so since your gonna be my wife..." he smiled. She laughed and shook her head. "The Almeida name is respected and..." he stopped to enjoy her laughter "Michelle this is serious!" he laughed.

"So your saying they're gonna be calling names and they're gonna get to Michelle Almeida and stop and ask me if I'm related to the great Tony Almeida?"

"Its a definite possibility" he said with a huge smile as they reached her terminal "And by the way I love that name"

She rolled her eyes "the great Almeida?"

He chuckled "No...Your soon-to-be name" he stroked her cheek "Michelle Almeida...say it"

She smiled and looked him in the eye "Michelle Almeida" she took a breath "or more formally...Mrs. Tony Almeida"

He kissed her deeply forgetting they were in a public place. After a few seconds she pulled back "I'm gonna miss you"

"I love you so much Sweetheart" she said kissing him lightly.

"What the hell is this!?" Ryan Chappelle said angrily.

Tony and Michelle both jumped at the sound of his voice.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ryan scolded.

"What are you doing here Ryan?" Tony asked.

Michelle was supposed to get her ID tags from the driver, but since she had arranged transportation I was bringing them to her. He held up an envelope and shoved it into her hands. "Your plane is leaving ...go" Michelle dropped her gaze to the floor and slowly took her bags from Tony and began to walk away.

Tony followed her "Hey" he stopped her "Everything's gonna be fine, don't worry about it, I'll take care of Ryan"

"I had no idea he was coming, I'm so sorry Tony" she began to apologize.

"Don't be sorry, its ok… we'll get through it... have a nice trip… I love you" he said hugging her "Please be careful"

"I will" she said sonly backing away "Bye, I love you" she turned and headed toward the gate.

Tony turned around to see Ryan with his hands on his hips "Your coming to my office, NOW" he said motioning for Tony to follow.

'20 days' Tony thought.

_(30 minutes later)_

"What the HELL were you thinking Tony!?" Ryan yelled across his desk at Tony who was seated in a chair on the other side of the desk. "What were you thinking when you decided it was ok to sleep with your co-workers... God, didn't you learn anything from Nina?!"

"Stop right there!" Tony stood up "I want to make something _completely _clear" he paused to calm himself "Michelle is NOT Nina" he said, "She is _not _just a fling... I am in love with her" he paused "And I am not _sleeping with her_... I am _marrying_ her"

Ryan's mouth hung open in utter disbelief. After a minute he found words "How long has this been going on?"

"About 8 months"

Ryan shook his head "You've been keeping this a secret from me for _8 months_?"

"Not _only_ from you" Tony said, "No one at CTU knows Michelle and I are engaged"

"Your telling me _nobody_ has noticed?"

"Well Jack Bauer knows..."

Ryan let out a laugh "of course he does"

"But we keep our relationship out of our work, that's why no one knows... so there is no reason this should be a problem because we have already proved it doesn't interfere with our work"

"You've proved you're sneaky, but I'm not convinced it won't interfere with your work" he sat quietly in thought "how much longer were you planning to keep this a secret?"

"We were going to schedule a meeting with you in the next week or two, but then Michelle got sent away"

"And I was wondering why you were so interested in that" Ryan said rubbing his eyes "Look, I'm not gonna lie Tony, this is bad. It's unprofessional, against protocol and I don't like it, but I am going to allow it for now."

Tony scrunched his forehead and thought 'Wow you are giving me permission to get married thanks Ryan'

He pointed his finger at Tony "But Tony, you are in command, so the second I see or hear of _any_ disruptions because of this I am holding _you _responsible and one of you _will_ be transferred to a different branch" he said "Am I clear?"

"Yes"

"Good"

(That night)

Michelle flipped on the light of the hotel room and dropped all her bags. She was exhausted. She looked around the room it was nice but for some reason it felt cold. Silence. She felt alone for the first time in months. She sat on the bed and held down 5 on her cell phone.

"Almeida"

"Hey it's me"

Tony knew exactly who 'me' was. "Hi sweetheart! I'm so happy to hear from you!"

She smiled "It's nice to hear you voice" she sighed, "So what are you doing?"

"Me and Garren are trying to find something to watch"

She laughed "Aww my two favorite men"

"Correction your favorite man and your favorite furry companion"

"Yea? And who is who?" she giggled.

"Ahh I see jet lag hasn't killed your amazing comedic skills," he said sarcastically.

"So how'd it go with Ryan?"

"We're fine, he just says the first time he finds out our relationship is disrupting our work, we are gonna have problems" Tony said.

"Oh come on, it couldn't have possibly been that easy" she said in disbelief as she began to look through her suitcase for pajamas.

"Well there was some yelling"

"What did he say?"

"He said I shouldn't be having a fling with my co-workers" Tony said

"And?" she prompted, "He brought up Nina didn't he?"

"Yea, but I told him you weren't Nina and this isn't a fling, that we are engaged and its n one of divisions business what we do outside work."

"Ok, so is he still angry?"

"He's fine, he'll get over it"

She smiled "Uh huh"

"So how was the plane ride?"

"Long, and the guy next to me was very talkative so I got no sleep" she put the phone on speaker and began to change. "He told me his entire life's story"

"Was it any good?" he asked still flipping through the channels.

"Nope, his life was incredibly boring except for this one time when he was in his 20's and he almost drowned while surfing"

Tony chuckled "Yea?"

She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her body "I was on the edge of my seat" she said sarcastically.

"You know what I don't get?" Tony said.

"What?" she asked laying back into bed.

"There is so much crap on TV but I can't find anything to watch"

"I know that feeling" she said with a long yawn.

"Want me to let you go so you can get some sleep?" he asked.

"It's weird falling asleep without you" she said.

"All right well I'll just talk to you until you fall asleep"

"Thank you sweetie" she said with a smile turning on her side and curling up into a ball.

"Well I don't know what to talk about so I'll tell you a story"

"Okay" she whispered closing her eyes.

"Once upon a time, in a far away land was this poor little old man. He decided to take a plane ride. When he got on the plane he sat next to this gorgeous woman with curly hair, brown eyes and a blue sweatshirt" Michelle smiled as Tony continued his silly story and the more he said, the lower and softer his voice got.

About 5 minutes later Tony whispered "Michelle? You still there?" she didn't reply so he knew she was asleep "Ok sweetheart, goodnight, I love you with all my heart"

_Everybody's got something they had to leave behind  
One regret from yesterday that just seems to grow with time  
There's no use looking back or wondering  
How it could be now or might have been  
Oh this I know but still I can't find ways to let you go_

Somewhere in my memory  
I've lost all sense of time  
and tomorrow can never be cos yesterday is all that fills my mind  
There's no use looking back or wondering  
How it should be now or might have been  
Oh this I know but still I can't find ways to let you go

You'll always be the dream that fills my head  
Yes you will, say you will, you know you will  
Oh baby, you'll always be the one I know I'll never forget  
There's no use looking back or wondering  
Because love is a strange and funny thing  
No matter how I try and try I just can't say goodbye

I've never had a dream come true  
Till the day that I found you  
Even though I pretend that I've moved on  
You'll always be my baby  
I never found the words to say  
You're the one I think about each day  
And I know no matter where life takes me to  
A part of me will always be  
A part of me will always be with you

_I wanted to post this chapter as soon as possible to thank all those have been reviewing so please if you haven't yet…_

Please review:)


	59. Chapter 59 That's Where It Is

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by)

~ Chapter 59 ~

Tony opened his eyes. He looked at the clock it was 5:47. He groaned and rolled over and jumped at what he saw "Oh hell no!" he said. Garren lazily opened his eyes "Get outta my bed!" Garren didn't move. "What do you think this is?!"

Michelle awoke to her phone ringing under her head. She jumped, this was not how she has gotten used to waking up. She answered the phone without opening her eyes "Dessler" she said groggily.

"I unknowingly slept with _a certain_ someone last night and I'm not very happy about it" Tony said staring at the dog.

Michelle's eyes shot open "What did you just say?!"

"He just snuck in, I don't know how it happened" Tony said.

"What the hell?" she said sitting up, still half asleep and utterly confused.

He chuckled realizing she just woke up "Sweetheart, your dog"

"Garren?" she asked

"That would be him"

Michelle let out a breath as she let herself fall back into the pillows "Ok Tony, that is the exact WRONG way to wake me up in the morning" she said with a smile.

"Sorry baby I thought you'd be awake by now" he said with a smile "If you were awake you would have understood" she groaned, he tried again "Good morning baby"

She giggled "Good morning" she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror "Damn it!"

"What's a matter?" he asked

"The phone left a mark on my face from sleeping on it" she said trying to rub her skin.

"Good then we are even because today I have to go to work and hide that red patch on my neck from a few nights ago"

She giggled, "That's still not gone?"

"Ya got me pretty good"

She blushed "I'm sorry about that"

"Don't be" he smiled "but we do need talk about _your_ dog"

"He's always _my_ dog when he's bad" she said shaking her head "And what would you like me to do from across the country?"

"All right, I'm gonna go out and buy him a dog bed today" Tony decided.

"Ok" she laughed "I'm gonna go take a shower honey I'll call ya back a little later"

"K sweetheart, good luck, have a good time and remember what I said"

"Ok" she said with a smile "And Tony"

"Yea?" he said.

She paused and smiled looking down "Wear your navy and gray striped collar shirt, I washed it before I left, it should cover your neck"

His smile grew "I love you so much… you know that?"

"I do" she said with a smile "I love you, I'll talk to you later"

"Ok bye sweetheart"

He hung up the phone a smiled. Garren stretched out across the bed. Tony shot him an annoyed look "Your lucky she has me in such a good mood" he said heading to the closet to find his navy and gray striped shirt.

_In the circles I've been running,  
I've covered many miles,  
And I could search forever for what's right before my eyes,  
Just when I thought I'd found it,  
It was nothing like I'd planned,  
When I got my heart around it, _

_it slipped right through my hands,  
Here with you I feel it,  
I close my eyes and see it,_

When I'm crashing through the madness,  
Not sure who I'm supposed to be,  
When I'm caught up in the darkness,  
It's your hand that's leading me,  
You bring me back to solid ground,  
You lift me up right here, right now

It's a life time filled with tight embraces  
The biggest things in the smallest places,

In a midnight talk, in a morning kiss,  
When I'm in your arms, that's where it is,  
When we're tangled up and can't resist,  
When we feel that rush, that's where it is

In the sweetest smile, on a night like this,  
And a tender touch, that's where it is,  
When we're tangled up, and can't resist,  
When we feel that rush, that's where it is,  
That's where it is

_(Later)_

Michelle stepped into the classroom, which was filled almost completely with men. She found a seat close to the front with an empty seat next to her. She looked around, most people were chatting quietly, she missed Tony. Just then someone sat down next to her. He looked familiar but for some reason she couldn't figure out who he was.

"Well! Imagine seeing you here Ms. Dessler!" he said with a mischievous smile.

He knew her name. That bothered her. "I'm sorry.... you are?"

"You're funny!" he laughed laying his hand over hers.

She pulled her hand back "I'm serious"

He smile died "Its Victor Gulcine" he said smiling "You interviewed me for a job a while back"

Her eyes widened as she remembered 'The _flexible_ guy' she thought about how they had hired Paula instead and she died. She became very sad. She had decided with Tony that Paula get hired... which caused her death in the end, while this sleezy guy gets to live on. 'Poor Paula, I should have never hired her, she could've gotten a safe job and lived her life'

"What's the matter?" he said wondering why she looked so sad.

"Nothing" she replied as class began.

_(A few hours later)_

As soon as Michelle got out of class she headed back to her hotel room to call Tony.

"Almeida"

"Hey it's me"

"Hi sweetheart" he said unsurely "Everything ok?"

She hesitated and her breathing got heavy and fast "Tony we never should have hired Paula" she said getting upset.

His heart ached for her "Oh Michelle.." he heard her trying not to cry "Baby you can't put that on us, she wanted a job and we gave it to her, we had no idea"

"She could be alive," Michelle said sadly ".... We are"

"Yes we are...thanks to Paula thousands of lives were saved, she died doing exactly what she always wanted to do" Tony paused "Michelle, don't ever feeling guilty for surviving"

"You're right...thank you" she said calming down.

"Where did this come from?"

"One of the other people we interviewed is in my class"

"Alive" he stated sadly nodding his head, he understood "Other than that how was it?"

"Ok I guess... how was your morning?"

"Slow" he said watching the people down in the bullpen "the days drag when your not here"

"Yea I know" she smiled feeling the same way.

"On my lunch break I got Garren a really nice bed, in fact I might keep it for myself… it's so big and soft"

She laughed at the thought "There room for two?"

"There's always room for you" he smiled, then he spotted Jack coming toward his office "Baby I gotta go but I'll call ya later"

_(Later)_

Michelle headed toward her afternoon session she sat far away from Victor. She sat next to an older man. She saw Victor trying to get her attention so she repositioned herself facing away from him.

"I think that guy's trying to talk to you" the man next to her said in a low voice.

Michelle smiled "I'm trying to avoid him"

The man smiled "That's nice" he chuckled "So where are you from?"

"CTU Los Angeles"

"No way! You're kidding?" he said with another chuckle "You know George Mason?"

Michelle's eyes dropped "Knew him"

"I know I heard" the man said sadly "He was a good friend of mine"

Michelle looked up "He was?"

"Yea we used to always commiserate at these types of events"

She smiled she could see George sitting around making sarcastic complaints "He was a good friend"

The man chuckled "Yea but being director doesn't allow much time for friends and family"

"Trust me I know," she said shaking her head as she thought about how tough being director has been on Tony.

The man spotted the engagement ring 'she knows?' he thought. "What did you say your name was?"

"Michelle Dessler"

The man's jaw dropped as he began to laugh "Oh no… George… you crazy old geezer" he muttered.

"What?" Michelle asked with a smile.

"Nothing" he said waving his hand "Just thinking of some of the crazy things he used to say, nothing to do with you"

Michelle eyed him closely "Your lying to me"

The man stopped for second "Your very good at interrogation" then continued to laugh "Wow he was right about you"

She smiled wider "He talked about me?"

"He said he had this new girl working in Com and she was somewhat shy but he said that you had a lot of potential and he thought you were going to be a incredible agent and uh" he glanced at her hand and laughed.

She was touched that George had faith her "What?"

"That ring" he smiled "He knew"

Michelle was confused then she realized.

"It's Tony's isn't it?" he smiled

The instructor came to the front of the class and started quieting people down.

Michelle nodded and blushed "Yea it is"

"I thought he was just getting old and senile, but he was right about you two"


	60. Chapter 60 Where You Are

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by)

_There has been a special request for a special chapter for our 60__th__ chapter:) I've done my best! Enjoy and as always, let me know what you think;)_

*

~ Chapter 60~

He had a bad day. Ryan was up his ass, Chloe and Adam were at each other's throats and Jack was in a bad mood. And the worst part, Michelle was thousands of miles away. He logged out of his computer and headed toward the parking garage. He walked toward the blue Jetta and smiled. 'Her car' he thought. He had been driving it to work every day not wanting to risk his car dying on him, plus her car was nicer and it reminded him of her. He slid into her car and the engine roared to life easily. He was surrounded by the smell of her. He rested his head back and took a deep breath enjoying her scent. He missed her so much. As the car warmed up her music began to play.

When Tony got home he flipped the lights on. The house felt cold. Garren came running towards Tony barking "Hey buddy" Tony said petting him "Ya hungry?" he asked heading toward the kitchen.

As he watched Garren eat he noticed how big he was growing.

_Flashback_

_"This puppy is going to grow into a strong adult dog who will love you and protect you all the time. Now of course loving and protecting you is my job and I will always love you and protect you, but any time I'm not around like when I go on a trip I want you to still have this piece of me to stay with you to continue loving and protecting you even when I'm far away"_

_End Flashback_

Garren was growing fast and becoming stronger by the day the same way their love was. From the moment he had been born early that September morning until now he had been growing as they grew to love each other more and more. It amazed Tony how much the dog had become a part of the family. 'Still don't like him sleeping in the bed though'

His phone rang "Almeida"

"Hey it's me"

"Hi baby, what's goin on?"

"I ranked highest in my class today" she said with a huge smile.

"I'm so proud of you sweetheart!" he smiled.

"Watch out! I'm pretty amazing! Pretty soon they'll hear Almeida and ask if _you're_ related to _me,_" she giggled.

"I will be more than happy to inform them that you are my beautiful wife," he said absolutely loving how those words sounded 'Michelle Almeida, my beautiful wife'

She blushed with a smile. "How was your day?"

"Not that good, cranky people at work are no fun"

"I'm sorry I wish I were there"

"Yea me too"

"Almost there" she said with a smile

"Trust me I'm counting the days," he said glancing at the calendar "8 days"

She giggled "Well actually 7 days and 17 hours"

He looked at the clock "And 41 minutes"

She checked her watch "And 4 seconds" they laughed together "So when _am_ I gonna be Mrs. Tony Almeida anyway?"

"We should probably come up with a date," he said with a smile. "How soon will you be ready to be Michelle Almeida?"

"I've been ready since the day I said yes" she smiled.

"Which time?" Tony laughed

"Every time" she smiled.

"Alright well what kind of wedding do you think we should have?"

"Nothing too fancy, all that matters is you and me," she said.

"Alright so say… a small church with a bunch of our friends and family with a nice reception afterward?" he suggested.

"And a nice hotel suite after that" she smiled and blushed.

"Of course baby only the best for you" he smiled

"For _us_" she corrected.

"For us" he repeated

"Sounds like a plan" she said "How much does it cost to have a reception at the place on Rivers street? I really like that place"

Tony smiled "Uh Michelle… about money" he chuckled.

"Well we don't have to have it there it was just an idea" she quickly said.

"No sweetheart, its not that…" Tony smiled "Just uh… from this point on you don't have to worry about money anymore"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"My grandfather became insanely wealthy when he brought his business to the U.S. and we were so close when I was young. He died when I was 20 and left his mansion to my parents, different items to my siblings and cousins, and he decided that I should inherit all of his monetary assets" he said "His brother runs the company now and I am set for life"

Michelle's mouth hung open

"He sat me down when I was 18 and told me that he was giving me all his money and that..." Tony's voice became heavy with emotion "He said that I was an amazing kid and he knew that I could be an extraordinary man... he said that the money was not so I could kick back and be rich... he said that he wanted me to still work hard and save lives and… be the great man he knew I could be...'never stop working hard and being the extraordinary man I expect you to be'...that's what he said as he was dying... that's why I work at CTU, I like my job and I will never stop honoring my grandfather because… he was a great man"

"Tony I had no idea" she whispered.

"I know baby" he said "but now you understand a little more why my mom is so protective of me"

"So your telling me you have all this money and-"

"No" he stopped her "_WE_ have all this money"

"Tony..." she hesitated "I don't know what to say"

"Say that you'll still marry me" he said.

"Sweetheart, I love you more than anything and I will marry you no matter what you tell me but, how can I accept all this? I don't have anything like this"

"Hey" he stopped her "You are everything that I could ever want or need... I don't need anything else, if I had to I would give it all up for you" he paused "all the money in the world could never buy me the happiness you bring me"

A tear rolled down her cheek, " I don't deserve you"

"Sweetheart" he said as tears filled his eyes "Yes you do, let yourself be happy, you deserve it and I love you so much"

"I love you Tony, I love you so much... I can never show you how much"

"August 12th" he said "All I want is you in a church on August 12th"

She smiled "Okay" she wiped a tear "I want to come home" she laughed.

"I want you to come home too baby" he said with a shaky voice "I always want to be where you are"

_There you are standing strong,  
I'm a leaf holding on  
You believe like a child,  
In this fire runnin' wild  
Oh I love how you see  
Right to the heart of me_

_I'm the frozen ground, you're the warm sunlight  
Shining down on me, baby just in time  
Well I have never been in a love like this  
Oh, you move my soul every time we kiss  
And I love how you heal;  
I can't believe how alive I feel_

_You're a waterfall, washing over me  
I'm a thirsty man let me drink you in  
Well I am on my way,  
You're a mountain top  
When I reach for you, your love lifts me up  
All that I want is to be  
Where you are_

"It's getting late... sweetie you should get some sleep" Tony said gently.

She was already in her pajamas so she laid down "I don't want to stop talking to you"

"Ok talk to me then, then when you get sleepy I'll do the talking"

"Okay" she smiled.

"Tell me about your dream wedding" he said silently getting a notebook.

Her smile grew "It's on August 12th" she explained "My friends are there, but its not a big crowd and" she closed her eyes and envisioned it "there are lots of purple and white flowers and everyone's happy and I'm in your arms... as.. we...... dance"

He started in a low calming voice "and our favorite song is playing, you smile at me and I am the happiest man in the world because you love me" he finished in a whisper "and I will never stop loving you"

_(The next morning)_

It was 1:53AM and Tony pulled out his laptop. He began searching for one of the most important things he would ever buy.

By 5:30 he had found it. 'Its perfect' he thought 'She'll love it' He sat back and admired the picture on the screen of his purchase. He called Michelle.

"Dessler"

"Good morning Sweetheart"

She smiled "Good morning honey, you sound... awake"

"Wait until I show you what I did last night"

"You didn't sleep?" she asked.

"No... I bought something" he smiled.

"What?"

"I'll show you when you come home"

She smiled, she loved surprises "Can you give me a hint?" she asked "Is it another dog?" she giggled.

"No" he laughed "I learned my lesson when he decided to start sleeping in our bed"

'Our bed' she repeated in her head

She smiled "What color is it?"

"It's not just one color"

"Okay... does it make sound?"

He smiled and thought for a second "Actually most don't... but ours always will"

_Any guesses?_


	61. Chapter 61 You Are My Everything

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _N' Sync_)

~ Chapter 61 ~

"Hello?" a female voice rang.

"Hey mom, it's Tony"

"Hi! I've been getting worried, I haven't heard from you"

"I'm sorry, just been busy"

"Yea, yea I know, you're a busy man"

"How's Michelle?"

Actually that's sorta what I was calling about" he smiled "We have a wedding date picked out"

She squealed, "That's great! I'm so excited for you! I'm gonna help you plan the whole thing! When is it?"

"August 12th' he said.

"Of this year?" she asked "Honey that's kinda soon"

"That's the idea"

_(Later that night)_

"Hey Sweetheart" Tony answered the phone seeing it was her.

"Hi honey!" she greeted happily. "18 hours!"

"I know baby, I can't wait! You getting on your flight soon?" he asked.

"Yup" she smiled "Hold on a sec Tony" she heard a knock at her door. She opened the door"

"Hey you, I was hoping you'd still be here… I wanted to catch you before you left" Victor said with a sinister smile.

"I'm sorry Victor, but I'm busy" she said trying to close the door.

"Michelle you don't have to pretend, I know you're attracted to me"

Michelle smiled "You are so full of yourself"

"And for good reason" he said.

"No" she looked him up and down "Not at all actually. In fact, I can't stand you. You're a pig-headed jerk and I thoroughly enjoyed kicking your ass in every event. Don't come to my room ever again." She slammed the door in his face. "Sorry baby" she said picking the phone up off the bed.

"I love you so much" he said chuckling "You truly amaze me"

She smiled "Yea, well for all the stuff he's been saying to me he deserved worse than that"

"And if I had been there I would have given it to him" Tony said "But I like that you can hold your own and throw a punch when you have to… I can protect you even though you don't need it"

She smiled and laughed.

"You know what else I like about you?"

"What?"

"Your laugh… and the beautiful smile that comes with it"

She blushed and giggled.

"And how I know you're blushing right now" he continued "And eyes that help me see how you're feeling and what you're thinking. And you're bed head in the morning"

She laughed "Ok ok that's enough"

"No it's not I've got millions of them" he said with a chuckle "And the way you're curls fall around your face"

"Tony"

"And the way you know exactly what to say to make me smile."

"Okay okay"

He continued "And you're incredibly sexy body"

"I'm hanging up now…" she said with a smile hanging up the phone with a giggle.

Her phone rang. She flipped it open as his voice continued "The way your eyes sparkle when you're happy"

"Stoppp" she laughed hanging up.

It rang again and she picked up and listened "And I love the way you kiss me"

She hung up. It rang again, this time she started by saying "And I love the way you drive me nuts"

"Michelle?"

Michelle stopped and looked at the phone it was Elizabeth "Oh sorry Liz I thought you were someone else" she was so embarrassed.

"Uh huh" Liz smiled "I just wanted to tell you me and the girls are meeting up next week for lunch, wanna come?"

"Yea sure" Michelle said getting a text message that read 'I love the way I can so easily drive you crazy –Tony' she laughed so hard, she loved how they thought the same thing "Liz I'm sorry I gotta go but I'll see you next week" she said finishing her phone call. She called Tony back.

"Hi sweetheart" he answered.

She laughed, "You drive me crazy"

"I know" he smiled.

_(Later)_

It was 3:34AM and Tony was the farthest thing from sleeping. He lay in his bed watching the ceiling fan spin. 'She's flying right now' he thought 8 and a half hours and she'll be home. The thought of her made him smile, he wasn't getting any sleep tonight. He felt something touch his leg.

"Garren!"

_(Later)_

She struggled with her laptop and 2 carry-ons as she came through the gates, then she spotted him leaning against a column in the waiting area. She smiled and rushed toward him. He opened his arms and she happily fell into them. He hugged her tightly for a minute then slowly slipped the bags off her shoulders and loaded them onto his. He kissed her "I'm SO glad your home"

"I missed you so much" she said hugging him tightly.

"Ready to get outta here?" he said with a smile holding out his hand.

"Definitely" she took his hands and they headed for the baggage claim. She glanced sideways "You look like you've gotten even less sleep then I have"

"Yea… I caught Garren in our bed again this morning so we went for a 5 mile run"

"That'll teach him" she rolled her eyes "Get him nice and tired then leave him in the house alone… I bet you I know exactly where he is right now"

Tony's eyes widened "I'll kill him… I just cleaned the sheets" he sighed "Well now that you're home maybe he'll stop" he slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close to his side.

"Whatever" she said resting her head on his shoulder as they walked through the parking lot "We can sleep anywhere as long as I'm with you"

_The loneliness of nights alone  
the search for strength to carry on  
my every hope has seemed to die  
my eyes had no more tears to cry  
then like the sun shining up above  
you surrounded me with your endless love  
Cuz all the things I couldn't see are now so clear to me_

_Now all my hopes and all my dreams  
are suddenly reality  
you've opened up my heart to feel  
a kind of love that's truly real  
a guiding light that'll never fade  
there's not a thing in life that I would ever trade  
for the love you give it won't let go  
I hope you'll always know_

_You're the breath of life in me  
the only one that sets me free  
and you have made my soul complete  
for all time (for all time)_

_  
You are my everything  
Nothing your love won't bring  
My life is yours alone  
The only love I've ever known  
Your spirit pulls me through  
When nothing else will do  
Every night I pray  
On bended knee  
That you will always be  
My everything_

_(20 minutes later)_

They pulled into a McDonald's parking lot "McDonald's? That's my surprise?"

He smiled "No… this is the part where you cover your eyes"

She giggled, "You're serious?" he pulled out a sleeping mask to cover her eyes and she laughed, "Wow you _are_ serious," she said as everything went dark.

"No peeking!" he laughed securing the mask.

Finally about 5 minutes later the car slowed and stopped and she heard the engine turn off. "Can I see?"

"Not yet" he said. He got out of the car and went to her side. He opened her door and helped her out. He guided her for about 20 feet then pulled the mask off.

In front of her was a huge open space with thick green grass and on the far end of the property the ocean could be seen splashing up on the small beach. "Wow this is a cool spot!" she said with a smile "We should have a picnic here sometime! Is that what we're here to do?"

Tony laughed "Sweetheart" he wrapped his arms around her from behind as they watched the waves "How about instead of having a picnic we build a home here"

Realization struck her like a bolt of lightning 'he said he _bought_ something'.

"_Our_ home" he whispered in her ear.

Her face lit up and she spun around "Really!?"

He nodded and laughed. She jumped up and kissed him passionately pulling him as close to her as possible. After a minute she pulled back "This is so _perfect_"

"I guess it suits you then" he said stroking her face.

"_Us_" she said, she turned back around admiring the piece of land. "It's gonna be so beautiful" she turned around and kissed him "Thank you Tony"

"Thank yourself, it's your money too now"

She smiled and leaned back onto him "I'm still not used to it" she watched the waves

"Well I've found out…in the past eight months with you, that it is _very _easy to get used to good things"


	62. Chapter 62 IYA

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

*

_Thank you for reviewing and please don't forget!_

_Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Ashley, it's like you read my mind with Tony's mother… I already had this written so I smiled when I read your reviewed:)_

*

~ Chapter 62 ~

"Michelle!" The girls squealed in unison as Michelle entered Liz's house.

"Oh my God you look _amazing_!" her friend Allison said giving her a tight hug "I haven't see you in forever!" she pulled back and looked at Michelle "You look so different, I can't believe how good you look!"

Michelle wasn't used to all this attention "Thanks" she smiled and said as her other friend Katie hugged her "Hey Michelle, we missed you"

They all sat down on the couches in Liz's living room. "So what's new?!" Allison asked.

"You act as if Liz hasn't already told you all about it" Michelle laughed.

Allison smiled "You're right…" she laughed "So Tony?"

Michelle blushed and smiled at the thought of him.

"Oooo look at that" Katie said sipping her tea "That huge smile tells it all"

Michelle laughed nervously. Allison gasped, "That ring is _gorgeous_" she leaned forward and took Michelle's hand to get a closer look "That's an expensive ring!"

Katie and Liz both examined it "So when's the big day?"

Finally something Michelle could respond to easily "August 12"

Katie looked up "that's only a few months away!" she said "Isn't this all a little too fast?"

The questions were getting easier Michelle decided, "No, it's perfect"

"Have you spoken to Jay lately?" Allison asked.

"No" Michelle said frankly "And I have no desire to"

The girls got quiet "Sorry"

"Don't be, I'm not," she said twirling her ring "Breaking up with him is the second best thing that ever happened to me"

"What's the best thing?"

"Tony" she smiled and looked away feeling silly.

The girls 'aww'ed and Michelle blushed "So Carrie tells us he's your boss?"

"I'm sure Carrie tells you a lot of things, that is probably the only true one"

"Easy girl" Katie said, "I don't know why you hate her so much, but what is going on with you two?"

Michelle looked away and then looked back "Carrie is a back-stabbing…" she stopped herself "first of all, anything she's told you about me and Tony forget it. She's jealous, and I would be able to tolerate her crap if she hadn't…" Michelle slowed down, she wasn't sure she wanted to approach the next subject.

"What hon?" Allison coaxed "Tell us, we will believe you over her, we just can't understand without knowing what happened."

"She drove Danny to try and commit suicide" Michelle said coolly "she knew it, and didn't care"

The girls fell silent for a minute. Katie started quietly "Are you ok?"

"Thanks to Tony I am" she said with a weak smile "he has taken care of me… he's amazing, you guys are gonna love him"

They smiled "Well you do right?"

She smiled "I've never felt this way about anyone before"

_(A week later)_

Tony slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't be more comfortable. Michelle was snuggled close to him and fast asleep. She was keeping him so warm he snuggled closer puling his arms tighter around her. 'She looks like an angel' he thought 'She is _my _angel' he began to kiss her. She allowed him in but at first didn't really do much, but as time passed she began to reciprocate the kiss and smile. It wasn't long before she had rolled on top of him. She pressed her hands on his bare chest to hold herself up. He ran his fingers all over he soft skin then proceeded to gently pull his shirt off of her. He smiled at his work and flipped her over so he was now on top of her, he looked down at her and they locked eyes "You are so beautiful Michelle"

_From the first time that I ever saw you,  
The emotions running deep underneath my skin,  
Sign anywhere for your love, where do we begin._

_So lay me down  
Tell me what I wanna hear  
Take me down  
There's nobody else I'd rather be with._

_I wanna wake up in your arms_

She lifted her head up to reach his so she could kiss him, as they kissed he gently lowered her back into the pillows as she snuck her hands into his boxers. He smiled and kissed her more forcefully as she continued until he started to go weak. He let himself sink down to her side so he was lying next to her. She smiled and kissed him slowly. "I love you Tony"

His voice was light and airy "I love you too baby"

The doorbell rang and Michelle began to pull her hands away "No" he pleaded wrapping his arms around her and pulled her close "They can wait"

She smiled and nuzzled her head into his neck "Tony?" he thought he heard his mom call.

Tony shook "Holy shit!"

"Hello? Anyone home?" she called. He jumped out of bed.

"Hold on ma!" he called down the hall. She grabbed his arm.

"Tony" she said softly handing him his sweatpants. He smiled and quickly put them on kissing her on the forehead "You might wanna get a shirt on" he smiled running a finger over her chest and kissing it before running downstairs.

He walked into the kitchen where he found his mother leaning on the counter "Hi honey, did I wake you?"

"Uh yea, but it's ok" he lied "What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong" she smiled "I've come to help you plan your wedding"

Tony lowered his eyebrows "What?"

"I know how busy you and Michelle are with work, so I figured I would come stay here to help you plan everything"

"Stay here?" he asked.

"I'm not gonna drive back and forth every day," she laughed, then became serious "why is that a problem?"

He sighed.

"Tony I never get to see you and this is one thing I want to be a big part of, I've been waiting for this day since you were born…please"

"Ma" he whined, not liking this at all.

"It will be ok" he heard Michelle whisper in his ear.

"Hi Michelle!" his mother greeted.

"Hey, how are you?" Michelle said stepping out from behind Tony to give his mother a hug.

As she turned back around they locked eyes for a second and he said "Ok mom, you can stay"

His mother squealed "This is gonna be great!" she spun around to get her bags from the car.

Tony turned and looked at Michelle in mock-annoyance "Look what you've done"

He whined.

"Tony" she cocked her head to the side "She's your mother, you can't just tell her no and send her home"

"I can't believe this is happening" he sighed dramatically "5 minutes ago I was in heaven" he smiled tenderly at the memory " and now my mother is moving in" he rubbed his forehead "You owe me"

Her jaw dropped "Really? Do I?"

"Yea" he smiled taking her hands "Come with me" he said trying to pull her back toward the bedroom.

His mother struggled through the door with all of her bags. "Help her!" Michelle whispered.

Tony shot her a pleading look then ran hurried over to help his mother.

Michelle glanced over at the clock "Tony we better hurry we have that meeting in half an hour!" Michelle warned him.

He looked up "No way that's not til-" he saw the time "Crap" he took his moms bags and headed toward the bedroom "After I help her I'll get dressed"

Bella followed Tony "What meeting?" she asked.

"Uh, couple weeks ago I bought some land for a house, we've been meeting with an architect who's helping us design our house"

She smiled and hugged him "I am so excited for you two" she said and then she lowered her voice "And I really wanted to get to know Michelle better so this is the perfect chance"

He smiled "Ok, well we gotta go, but we'll be back later…just use the hidden key as your key, make yourself at home" he said heading toward the bedroom. He opened the door just as Michelle was unclipping her bra "Ooh! Timing is everything!" he smiled wrapping his arms around her.

She giggled and squirmed "Your hands are cold!"

"And your body is soft and warm" he murmured into her neck.

She smiled as she slowly leaned over toward the dresser and he followed her. She took off the bra and pulled out a new one "Tony" she said "Tony?"

He was silent with his face in her neck under her hair. She watched him in the mirror, he was in another world "Tony?'

He shook slightly and looked up "I'm sorry" he let her go and headed over to his dresser to get dressed.

She began putting her bra on as she turned around and followed him "Are you ok honey?"

"Yea" He said pulling his shirt over his head.

"What is it?" she asked knowing there was something.

"No… I just…" he stopped and said "It takes my breath away sometimes" he said with a weak smile sitting down on the bed.

"What does?" she asked sitting next to him.

"You… us" he smiled "I just can't believe I'm here with the most perfect woman … who I couldn't have ever even dreamed of …and we are planning our wedding and building a home together" he said lightly "It's amazing"

She smiled "I know" she bit her bottom lip "How did I get so lucky?"

He smiled at her "I'm the lucky one"

(Later)

"So this is the revised floor plan for the second floor" the architect explain showing Tony and Michelle the blueprints "I have managed to keep the master bedroom in a private area, like you requested" he pointed to the room "As you walk into the master bedroom there will be a 6in high stage which the bed will be on with a huge window behind it."

"Can we change that?" Tony asked. "What way is the window face? "

"Uh northeast" he said.

"Can we angle the wall so it's the east and position the stage for the bed in the center of the room?"

Michelle smiled and looked at him questioningly "What are you thinking?"

"He put his hands up to demonstrate If the window faces the east then when the sun rises it will come right through our window, and with the bed right in the center the light will shine right onto the bed" he said with a smile.

She smiled "Wow" she held his hand "I agree"

"Ok we can do that," the architect said "So the bed will the center of the room then" he said re-drawing the plans "So the bathroom will then be on the left side of the room next to the closet which we can make a walk-in closet…and I can position that in the back left corner of the room… How's that?"

"Perfect" she said.

"Where are the plans for the bathroom?" Tony asked.

"Right here" the architect said pulling out another sheet "We have two sinks as you walk in on the right with a nice big tub on the back left corner and a walk in shower over here" he pointed.

"And the other bedrooms?" Michelle asked.

"I have been able to make 4 bedrooms and a study, with the space the exterior design yields" he pulled out another sheet "Plenty of room for children and a guest room"

Michelle smiled "And how many bathrooms upstairs, not including ours?"

"2" he answered "One for the largest bedroom and another shared bathroom"

"With this new design where are the stairs going to land downstairs?" Tony asked.

"Well you wanted them away from the entrance so I positioned the stairs past the family room entrance, across from the dining room."

"I love it" Michelle said with a smile skimming over the plans.

"Ok, looks like we're ready to finalize and build" Tony said with his arm around Michelle.

"Excellent!" the architect smiled "All I have to do is send the plans to the security company so they can make sure all the alarm systems you've asked for conform with the design."

"Sounds great" Tony said shaking his hand "Let me know when you need the first payment"

"I'm so excited" Michelle said as they headed out of the office.

He kissed the side of her head as they walk "I know me too Sweetheart, me too"


	63. Chapter 63 Undo It

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Carrie Underwood)

~ Chapter 63 ~

"Rise and shine!" a loud cheery voice bellowed

Michelle jumped and opened her eyes "Ah!" she sat up and squinted "Mrs. Almeida?"

"No darling that's you" Tony's mom said with a smile sitting on the bed next to Michelle "or at least.... that _will_ be you" she smiled "I tell everyone to call me Bella...or in your case mom"

"Sorry" she rubbed her eyes "I'm not a morning person"

"Yea Tony told me" she smiled "by the way...where is he?"

"Out with his friends for the morning... he hasn't seen them in a long time"

"No work?" she asked.

"It's Sunday" Michelle said

"Oh terrorists take Sundays off?"

Michelle smiled "No but most senior officers do, but they'll call us if there's a problem"

"'Senior officers huh? Do you guys run the whole office?"

"Yea the intelligence unit of CTU"

"Wow" she said "And your CTU is the headquarters right?"

"Yup"

"You two are very important people...which is what I suspected, which is why I think we need to hire security for the wedding"

"Of course" Michelle nodded "In fact I was thinking the same thing, I already have 5 CTU agents picked out for the job" Michelle smiled.

"You and I are gonna get along just fine" Bella smiled.

_(Later)_

Tony walked in the door to see Gina, Michelle, and Bella all sitting on the couch looking through wedding catalogs. Michelle looked up and Tony smiled "Oh no... What is all this?"

She stood up and walked into his embrace "Wedding planning, you should join us"

"No, no woman" he shook his head with a smile "two things I put you in charge of, wedding planning and giving birth...they are both too painful for my gender" She laughed he lowered his voice to a whisper in her ear "plus all I care about is you"

She kissed him "Ok, but just sit with us" he followed her and they sat on the couch with Bella and Gina who were still flipping through catalogs.

"So how was your morning with your friends?" Bella asked.

Tony hesitated then nodded his head "Good, was glad to see them"

"They throwing you a bachelor party?" Gina asked with a smile.

Tony sat back with a sigh and scratched the side of his face "They better not"

"Why not?" Michelle asked.

"Ask me again sometime" he answered.

She gave him a questioning look with a small smile. "Anyone hungry?" Gina asked.

Everyone agreed to get something to eat. "Gina and I will go pick it up," Michelle offered.

As Gina and Michelle got up to leave Ton held Michelle back "Treat them to lunch, use your new debit card" he smiled.

"You sure?" she asked.

"I want you to get used to using that money, its yours now... I want you to feel completely comfortable buying whatever you want...ok?" Tony said "right now, the more you spend, the better I feel"

"That's dangerous" Gina smirked.

"I'm serious, buy a jet ski, jewelry, new big screen TV" he smiled "I just want to know that if your in trouble or need something you feel comfortable enough to use the money and not even think to ask, cuz its yours too"

"Okay" she said kissing him on the cheek "We'll be ordering from the finest restaurant in LA" she joked.

_(20 minutes later)_

"You're kidding right?" Gina said as they pulled up to McDonalds.

"We're not eating here I'm showing you something" she said turning.

They pulled up to the land "Wow looks at those waves!" Gina pointed to the beach.

"This is it" Michelle smiled

"This is what?" she asked

"Where we are building our home"

Gina's head whipped around "that's amazing! Its gorgeous!"

Michelle smiled "I know!"

"Thanks for showing me this Michelle" she smiled hugging Michelle.

"You're welcome" Michelle put the car in drive as they headed to pick up the food "There's one more reason I asked you to come with me" Michelle said, "I wanted to ask you something"

"What?"

"Would you like to be my Maid of Honor?"

Gina's jaw dropped "DEFINATELY!" she hugged Michelle "I can't believe you're asking me! Thank you so much!"

"Thank you"

_(Later)_

"So Gina tells me she's you Maid of Honor?" Tony said wrapping his arms around Michelle from behind as she brushed her teeth.

She rinsed her mouth "Yep"

"Sweetie, you didn't have to do that", what about Liz?"

"I wanted to Tony and Liz won't mind"

He spun her around and kissed her "I love you" he kissed her then after a few seconds kissed her jawbone then under her ear.

Her heard a breath rush out of her.

"You ok?" he smiled

"Yea you just hit a sweet spot I guess" she smiled.

He went back to the spot and she breathed again "I'm gonna remember that" he smiled doing it one more time.

She smiled and angled her neck to give him access "That feels so good" she moaned.

There was a knock on the door "Go away" Tony called with a laugh.

Micelle smiled as she pulled herself away from him and headed toward the door. She opened the door to see Gina holding her phone "Sorry to bother you... your phone keeps ringing" she handed it to Michelle.

Michelle's smile faded "Thanks" she took the phone and slowly closed the door. She flipped the phone open '6 missed calls Jay' Michelle sighed and closed the phone.

"Who was it?" Tony asked gently searching her eyes for the answer.

"Jay" she answered.

"He leave a message?"

"A couple, but I don't know... should I ignore them?"

"Sweetie that's up to you" as he sat on the bed he pulled her down into his lap. She stared at the phone in silence as he stroked her hair "You know I'm here for you"

She nodded "I'm happy without him, you make me happy and that's all I need... no matter what he has to say" she tossed the phone onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Tony. "I just want him to go away"

He hugged her tightly with his face in her hair "How about we go to the store tomorrow and get new phones with new numbers on a plan together?"

She pulled back and smiled "That sounds great!" she cupped his face and kissed him as they rolled back onto the bed.

_(Later)_

Michelle's eyes opened 'What if he was in trouble?' she tried to shake the thought. She hated him, but what if he needed her... she remembered how she left him laying on the side of the road... the uncertainty was driving her crazy and her favorite distraction was fast asleep. She reached for the phone and held it in her hands.

_You stole my happy, you made me cry  
Took the lonely and took me for a ride  
And I wanna undo it  
Boy you blew it, you put me through it  
I wanna undo it_

Now your photos don't have a picture frame  
And I never say your name and I never will  
And all your things, well I threw them in the trash  
And I'm not even sad

Now you only have yourself to blame  
For playing all those stupid games  
You're always gonna be the same  
And, oh no, you'll never change

You want my future, you can't have it  
I'm still trying to erase you from my past  
I need you gone so fast

"Listen to it, otherwise it's just gonna drive you crazy baby" she heard Tony whisper as he began to rub her back.

"You think so"

"Baby you're a deep sleeper, so if this is keeping you awake its gotta be bothering you"

She rolled over to face him and he tried to control his smile. "What?"

He looked down at her and she remembered she wasn't wearing a shirt. He kissed her chest and she smiled. "It's just a little distracting" he said pulling her closer.

She pulled the phone out "ok.." she looked up at him "Ready?"

"Ready when you are" he said kissing her forehead as she dialed her voicemail.

"You have 4 unheard messages. First unheard message sent today at 10:31PM. 'Hi Michelle, it's Jay… I'm calling you cuz I really need to talk to you… I'm sober… and I'm really sorry… about everything… I want us to try again" Michelle closed her eyes and shook her head and Tony stroked her hair "please call me'… Next unheard message sent today at 10:57PM. 'Hey Michelle it's me again, please don't ignore me, give me a call… give me one more chance… I haven't had a drink in over a month and I promise you I never will again so please, we can go back to the good times" as he talked her phone began to vibrate "It's him" she said showing Tony.

"Only answer it if you want to" he said gently "you don't have to"

She took a deep breath and pushed the green button "Dessler"

"Oh thank God" he said, "I was getting worried"

"You don't have to worry about me anymore I'm fine" she said coolly.

"Did you get my messages?"

"Yes" she said "But it's over, we've been through this before"

"But I don't drink anymore, I've changed, we can be happy again"

"I _am_ happy" she stopped him "I'm happier than I've ever been and I'm glad you stopped drinking, but you can't erase the past… I'm engaged now so don't call me again, because I won't answer" she said hanging up.

She tossed the phone away and looked up at Tony. "You did good" he smiled kissing her. As they kissed they heard the phone ring. Tony slowly got out of the bed and picked up the phone off the floor. He looked at it and released the battery letting it fall to the floor.

"If CTU needs us they'll call my phone"

She smiled brightly as he crawled back under the warm cover to her and pulled her close. "I love you so much Tony"

"I love you too baby" he said kissing her then nuzzling his face into her neck as they fell asleep. Michelle slept soundly that night with a conscious that was completely clear.


	64. Chapter 64 With You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jessica Simpson_)

~ Chapter 64 ~

"No mom…" Tony dropped his head into his hands "Please tell me your kidding!"

"I thought it would be nice… I thought you'd like it… " She said looking at the floor.

"Mom, I appreciate the thought, but you really should have come to me first" he said scratching the side of his face.

"Tony…" Michelle said "Mom its really nice and it was so nice of you to do its just… with our job"

"We are supposed to stay out of newspapers with our personal lives" he sighed "They keep all our records classified for a reason… no phonebooks, no online profiles, no _newspapers_"

Michelle put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "she didn't know"

He nodded "I know"

"Go make your coffee" she said gently then he left disappearing into the kitchen.

"I'm really sorry Michelle, I just thought a wedding announcement in the paper would be nice" Bella said sadly.

"It would be… I would love to do things like that, but we have to be careful"

"Do you think terrorists will see it?"

"I don't know, if they even notice… its mostly a problem because all these papers are archived so if anyone is ever trying to get information on us this will give them a lead" she said examining the picture. It was a picture of them when he proposed in his mom's backyard. He had her up in his arms and they were both smiling with their faces less than an inch apart and it had their names and the wedding date on it. She smiled at the picture then looked back up at Bella "We don't know for sure this will be a problem… he's just worried... but it's ok"

"He's angry at me"

"He's not," Michelle explained "He knows you had no idea, he's just mad that it happened, but he'll be alright" she said looking her in the eyes "It will be ok, don't let it bring you down"

She nodded "Well the least I can do is make you guys a quick breakfast before work" she said heading into the kitchen.

A bed-headed Gina came sauntering down the stairs "Make that three, I'm hungry"

_(Later)_

They pulled into the CTU parking garage. He turned off the engine "Hey" she grabbed his arm as he went to open the door. "Don't let it bug you, it happened, but it's over and there's nothing we can do about it, so there's no point being upset… it's not gonna change… and it might not even make a difference in the end"

He looked down and considered what she was saying, "I know… you're right… I just... don't like it"

"Plus, who reads the newspaper anyway" she smiled.

That smile made him melt. He kissed her softly leaving a smile on both their faces "Ok… I'm ready now," he said with a smile giving her hand a squeeze.

They held hands until they reached the door. Their hands dropped to their sides as they entered the building. He went his way and she went hers. As she walked into the bullpen everyone turned and looked and Chloe came rushing toward her "Michelle I saw the newspaper"

Michelle stopped in her tracks. Her mouth hung slightly open as she looked around at all the people who stared at her obviously waiting for her response.

Tony was almost to the bullpen when he heard Jack call him from behind "Tony"

Tony spun around "Yea?"

"A wedding announcement in the paper? Have you lost your mind?" he said.

"Lower your voice" Tony said.

"There's no point. Chloe's told everyone with ears" he said, "What were you thinking?"

"We didn't do it… my mom did" Tony said turning around walking toward the bullpen.

"You understand this is bad right?" Jack said walking in front of Tony blocking his path.

"Yes Jack I do, but nothing can be done at this point and-" He stopped when he noticed everyone was staring at something out of his line of view. He pushed passed Jack and saw Michelle standing in slight shock with Chloe in front of her.

Michelle struggled with words "I- uh…"

Tony stepped in "What Chloe has probably told you all is true" Tony announced as Chloe rolled her eyes "Michelle and I are engaged to be married"

"We didn't want you to find out like this, but we are not the ones who posted the announcement, it was a family member who wasn't aware it was a problem." Michelle announced.

"If you have any questions or concerns we would appreciate it if you would bring them straight to Michelle or myself" Tony said "Now lets get back to work."

Michelle looked over at Tony and he walked toward her. He spoke in a low voice so only she could hear "Well that was interesting"

Michelle shook her head "My mind went blank"

"I noticed," he said with a slight smile "At least it's done"

She sighed with relief "Yea, until we start getting those questions and concerns and you know we will"

"I don't doubt it so we should be on high alert" he said.

"Right" she nodded heading to her station as he headed toward his office.

_(That night)_

"Tony do you actually have any good movies?" Gina said looking through his cabinet under the TV.

Tony sat on the couch in sweatpants and a white t-shirt holding a pillow "Michelle's DVDs are over there" he pointed to a box in the corner.

"Sweet!" she said picking through the movies.

"Pick out a nice movie Gina" Bella instructed as she fixed a pillow under her back.

"Ok got one" Gina said holding up a movie "Tony you gonna watch with us?"

"Yea" he said twisted back to look for Michelle "Hey Michelle you gonna watch a movie with us?"

She turned off the light and slowly walked into the room as she yawned "I don't know I'm really tired"

"I'll take you to bed if you fall asleep" he said pulling her down into his lap.

"Alright" she said with another yawn, as she got comfortable.

Twenty minutes into the movie Gina turned around, Michelle's head was in Tony's lap she was fast asleep as Tony slowly ran his fingers through her hair. "She's asleep already?" Gina whispered.

Tony who was absorbed in the movie stopped and looked down and smiled "Yea, I'm gonna take her upstairs" he said slowly lifting her into his arms and carrying her upstairs. He carefully laid her down in bed and pulled the thick warm covers over her. He gave her a kiss then headed back downstairs.

_The real me is a southern girl with her Levis on and an open heart  
Wish I could save the world, like I was super girl  
The real me used to laugh all night lying in the grass just talking about love  
But lately I've been jaded life got so complicated_

You speak and it's like a song  
And just like that all my walls come down  
It's like a private joke just meant for us to know  
I relate to you naturally  
Everybody else just fades away  
Sometimes it's hard to breathe  
Just knowing you found me

Come and take me  
Love you save me  
Like nobody else  
Now I can be myself  
With you

_Cuz I start thinking about it,  
I almost forgot what it was like  
To know what love feels right  
Cause with you  
I can let my hair down  
I can say anything crazy  
I know you'll catch me right before I hit the ground  
With nothing but a T-shirt on  
I never felt so beautiful  
Baby as I do now  
Now that I'm with you  
With you_

Gina smiled as he sat down "You two are so cute"

Tony rolled his eyes "shut up and watch your chick flick" he said hiding a smile.

About an hour later Tony heard something behind him.

"Michelle?" Bella said quietly "Is everything ok?"

Tony turned around. Her hair was all over the place and his sweatpants and shirt made her look tiny. "Baby you ok?"

"I can't find my toothbrush" she said in a light airy voice.

Tony smiled and rasied an eyebrow in amusement "Your toothbrush?"

"What's wrong with her?" Gina said with worry.

"She's sleep walking" Tony said getting up and walking over to Michelle "Come on let's go back to bed"

"I can't find it Tony"

He turned her around and used her shoulders to steer her toward the bedroom "It ok, we'll look for it tomorrow and if we can't find it you can use mine"

"Ok" she said as he helped her back into bed and tucked her in "You're leaving?" she asked in a tiny innocent voice.

He smiled at how adorable she looked "I'll be right back baby, just saying goodnight to Mom and Gina"

'Who would've thought that this innocent adorable little woman in my bed could be a hard-core professional kick-ass field agent after a few hours of sleep' he thought with a smile.


	65. Chapter 65 In My Head

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jason Derulo_)

_*_

_This morning I woke up to 3 reviews, which inspired me to write!!! _

_Thank you so much!_

_This chapter is after about a month or two has passed…_

_*_

~ Chapter 65 ~

Tony pulled Michelle's car into his driveway. She let him take it to work since she had the day off. He was excited to get inside and see her.

"Surprise! Happy Birthday Tony!" a mob of people yelled happily as Tony opened the front door. He stood shocked then he shook his head as he tried to hold back the smile spreading on his face.

"I hate surprises," he muttered hugging his mother who was right in front of him.

"That's why I insisted on a surprise party," Gina said hugging him as he looked over her shoulder for Michelle.

"Hey Tony! Happy Birthday man!" Jonathon said shaking his hand with a smile and a beer in his hand. The house was beautifully decorated from top to bottom in his favorite colors. He had to admit, it looked like a great party, but he still couldn't find Michelle.

Gina noticed Tony looking around "She's on her way" she said.

"Oh" Tony said looking back at her.

"She got tied up picking up your present, but she said she'll be here soon"

Tony nodded and headed toward the kitchen. It was full of snack foods and coolers of drinks. Everything was decorated and all his friends were there. "Hey Tony how ya doin?" Tony's friend Pete said tapping Tony on the back.

"Oh no" Tony smiled "Who invited you?" Tony said with a laugh.

"Your fiancé" he smiled "Apparently she got a hold of your phone"

"Yea I gotta keep a closer eye on her from now on" He looked around at the decorations hanging from the ceiling "because apparently I've under-estimated her"

Pete laughed, "There she is," he pointed.

Michelle was struggling with a box as she came through the door holding Garren back. Tony hurried over to help her. He pulled Garren off her and took the box with his other arm. Once she was able to close the door he kissed her. "So this is what you do on your days off?"

She smiled "Wait til you see your present"

He looked at the box "Is this it?"

"No, that was on the porch, it came in the mail" she explained.

"Mildrew Varez" he read "Oh boy Aunt Milley… she always sends the _best_ gifts" he muttered sarcastically.

"Those chocolates she sent you for Christmas were good," Michelle said.

"I wouldn't know… I didn't get any" he smiled.

Michelle smiled sheepishly "Yea… but trust me they were good"

"There you are Michelle! So sorry you missed it!" Bella said.

"It's ok" Michelle smiled "I've got a surprise for him later"

Tony wiggled his eyebrows "Yea?" Tony began to daydream to the sounds of a song he had just heard on the radio in Michelle's car

_Everybody's looking for love_

_Ain't that the reason you're at his club_

_Some dudes know all the right things to say._

_When it comes down to it, it's all just game._

_Instead of talking let me demonstrate. Yeah._

_Get down to business and skip foreplay._

_Just leave with me now. Say the word and we'll go._

_I'll be your teacher. I'll show you the ropes._

_You'll see a side of love you've never known._

_I can see it going down, going down._

_In my head, I see you all over me._

_In my head, you fulfill my fantasy._

_You'll be screaming "Ohhh"_

_In my head, it's going down._

_In my head, it's going down._

_She'll be screaming out when it all goes down._

She shook her head and steered him back towards the party "Keep your clothes on, it's not like that"

He smiled as they walked back into the party 'Someday soon it will be'

As Tony talked to his friend Kevin Gina came up behind them and tapped Michelle on the shoulder. Michelle spun around and Gina smiled.

"There's the beautiful hostess!" Gina said. Michelle smiled and blushed a little.

"It took forever at…the place" she explained.

Gina smiled and whispered, "What did you get him anyway?"

Michelle smiled brightly "Look out the window"

Gina ran over to the window. Her jaw dropped and she slowly turned back around and mouthed "OH. MY. GOD." with a huge smile.

"Right Michelle?" Michelle heard Tony say.

She turned around "I'm sorry what?"

"The house… it's coming along nicely isn't it?" Tony said with a smile.

"Oh yea, it's gorgeous… I couldn't be happier with it"

_(Later)_

Everyone had finished their cake and the party was ending "Can I have my present yet?" Tony asked poking Michelle.

She smiled "You ready?"

"Uh yea!"

"Ok" she smiled putting down her cake "But I have to cover your eyes"

He smiled "Ok" She steered him toward the door then reached up on her tippy-toes to try to cover his eyes from behind as they walked. She was having trouble staying close enough to cover his eyes with her short arms so he covered her hands with his, helping her to hold them in place. "You better be watching where we are going cuz if I fall-"

"I won't let you fall," she said with a giggle.

Once they were out in the driveway she let go of his eyes and their hands slid out of his way. He opened his eyes and didn't believe what he was seeing. In the driveway sat a _brand new_ champagne colored GMC Denali SUV. It had a huge red bow on the top and the sunset gleamed on its shiny paint. He spun around and picked her up tossing her up.

She laughed as he kissed her passionately. "Thank you so much baby!"

She had barely enough breath to speak "You're welcome!"

He slowly set her down and wrapped his arms around her "I love you so much"

"I love you too," she said kissing him.

"Can we go for a ride?" he asked excitedly.

"It's all yours," she said handing him the keys.

He swept her up and slid her into the passenger seat, then ran around and jumped in the driver's seat. He took a second to look around at all the shiny new controls and buttons "This is so cool!" he said turning the key. The engine roared to life. "Oh yea!" he cheered with excitement.

Michelle giggled at his enthusiasm.

'This is so amazing" he said, "Where should we go?" he asked taking hold of her hand as he always did when he drove.

"How about we go see how our house is coming," she said with a smile.

"Ok!" he said putting the truck into reverse and gliding out of the driveway and down the street. His smile grew as he drove.

She smiled too, she loved seeing him so excited, she found it amazing how her emotions seemed to reflect his.

"Oh Michelle this is so awesome" he said looking over at her, he saw a tear in her eye "Hey what's the matter?"

"No" she smiled as he wiped the tear "I'm happy" she laughed.

He quickly leaned over and kissed her "Good…look it has a built-in GPs navigation system!"

"Yea there's a couple custom features I had them build in," she said.

"There's more!?" he said with a huge smile.

"Yup" she said, "The trunk is extended to fit a gun locker in the floor and the GPS system" she leaned forward and pushed a button "has a direct uplink so you can run Comm, listen to music, make phone calls or interface with CTU and it'll be routed through the stereo system"

"No way!" he said pushing the button.

"And this is a stealth button that shuts down the uplink so you won't be tracked with it… just in case" she said "And " she pushed a button "Heated seats"

He smiled "This is perfect"

She turned and looked out the window "Yea" that too" she pointed at the house.

"And you know what else is perfect?" She smiled and he kissed her.

They both whispered at the same time "You"


	66. Chapter 66 Bless the Broken Road

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

_*_

_Ok so THIS is what happens when I have the day off and I get lots of reviews lol… another chapter lol_

_Thanks so much for the reviews!_

_*_

~ Chapter 66 ~

The alarm buzzed. Tony opened his eyes and reached over Michelle to quiet the alarm. Michelle's head shot up at the sound.

"Ouch!" Tony said.

_(10 minutes later)_

"What happened to your head?" Gina giggled as Tony entered the kitchen.

"Michelle" he said pulling his mug down from the cabinet.

Michelle walked into the kitchen and Gina laughed when she saw her "What did you guys bump heads?"

"Yea" Michelle said rubbing her temple.

"The alarm never wakes you up" he said pouring his coffee.

"Yea I know… it's weird," she said getting her coffee.

_(10 minutes later)_

"Tony!" Michelle yelled.

Tony rushed into the bathroom to find Michelle wrapped in a towel, covered in goose bumps with shampoo still in her hair shaking like a leaf. "What's the matter?" he said with worry "Why are you not in the shower"

"It's cold" she said as her teeth chattered.

He walked over to the shower and felt the water it was freezing "I took a shower last night and Gina just got up, there's no way we should be out of hot water" he said turning the knob back and forth trying to get some warm water "Must be something wrong with the water heater"

She looked up at him "What am I gonna do?"

He smiled rubbing her temple, "You are not having a good day are you?"

She gave him her best puppy-dog eyes "No"

"Here lean back" he said gently laying her head in the sink "It's gonna still be cold but at least its not your whole body" He turned on the water and began rinsing her hair in the sink. She looked up at him as he massaged her head. She smiled at him. He looked down at her and smiled "What am I gonna do with you?"

_(30 minutes later)_

"Warm yet?" he said as the heat blasted in his car.

She turned the seat heater up and rubbed her hands together in front of the heating vent in front of her "I just can't seem to shake the chill" she said.

"I hope you don't get sick" he said rubbing her back as he drove.

"No" she said "I'll be fine… just want this day to be over"

"Already?" he smiled.

_(Two hours later)_

Michelle bursted into Tony's office "Tony we have a problem"

He looked up "What's going on?"

"Follow me" she said rushing down the stairs. She led him down the hall and opened up the ladies room door.

He stopped dead in his tracks "Michelle?" he eyed her closely "What are you doing?"

"Come here!" she instructed.

He looked around and slowly entered the bathroom and walked over to the sink. "What?"

She pointed down the drain "My ring" she explained with a sad look on her face.

His face dropped "Oh no" he said looking down the drain "I see it" he said "It's stuck" he examined then straightened up "I don't know how we're gonna get it out"

Chloe walked in to the bathroom and her jaw dropped. "Tony? What are you doing in here?"

"I'll be right back" he said hurrying out of the bathroom.

"Michelle?" she asked.

Michelle didn't know what to say she felt so stupid.

"Look Michelle I really like you, I admire you, but this stuff with Tony is very unprofessional" she started "Where's your ring?"

Michelle dropped her head "I dropped it down the drain"

"Oh that's why he was in here?" Chloe asked.

Michelle nodded "Yea but I don't know if we're gonna be able to get it"

Tony came back into the bathroom "Oh… sorry Chloe" he said backing up.

"No it's ok, Michelle told me" Chloe said, "I think I know how we can get it out"

Tony raised an eyebrow and handed her the tool kit and paper clips he brought. As Chloe worked Tony looked at Michelle who shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Ten minutes later Chloe slowly pulled the ring out and put it in Tony's open hand. "There… got it!" she smiled proudly.

Tony smiled "Thank you" he carefully rinsed it off and dried it with a paper towel sliding it back onto her finger "Might wanna take it off from now on when you wash your hands"

She smiled and Tony left. "Thank you so much Chloe" Michelle said.

"Your welcome" she said with a smile "And by the way I'm really sorry about what I said before about you and Tony"

"Don't worry about it" she said "I understand… but … do you think you could keep this between us… I know it's-"

"Absolutely" Chloe cut her off "And I'm sorry for the other day when I confronted you in front of everyone"

"It's ok" Michelle said with a small smile "I know it seems bad, but I hope that in time we can show you that our relationship won't interfere with this office"

"I hope so," Chloe said with a smile as she headed toward the stall to finally go to the bathroom.

Michelle smiled and looked down at her ring. She knew Chloe would be hard to convince, but maybe it wouldn't be as hard as she thought.

_(Later)_

"Dessler"

"Hey you ready to go?" he asked looking at the clock.

"Yea I'm ready now," she said logging off.

"Ok, I'll be ready in about ten minutes" he said

"Want me to go warm up the car?" she asked

"Uh…" he said "Actually the idea of you operating heavy machinery today is kinda scary"

She laughed, "Alright let me know when you're ready"

_(Later that night)_

Michelle flopped into bed embracing her pillow and sighing with relief that the day was finally over. Tony flicked off the bathroom light and crawled over next to her. "So did we finish the guest list?" She turned her head and smiled. "Yea I think so"

"Who do we have?"

She thought for a second "Umm, your family, Danny and his family, Jonathon and his family, Kevin, Pete, Jack Kate and Kim, Chloe,"

"Chloe?" he asked with surprise.

"Yes Chloe" Michelle said "She saved my ring and she's a good friend, plus we need her on our side"

"You think Miss. Protocol will feel better about us after she watches us say our vows and kiss and stuff"

"I think she'll be more comfortable once she sees that this is serious and she sees the difference between outside work us and at work us"

He shook his head and smiled "If you say so" he chuckled "Who else?"

"I don't know…you have any other friends I don't know about?" she asked "Anyone that I skipped at your birthday?"

"You skipped people?" he said, "I thought everyone was there"

"Well…" she smiled "I went through your cell phone contacts"

"Who'd you skip?" he said with an amused smile.

"The female names that I didn't know" she smiled nervously "I was just afraid of coming across angry ex-girlfriends"

"I would have loved to hear what they would say when they get the call" he mimicked her voice "Hi this is Michelle, Tony Almeida's fiancé, wanna come to his surprise birthday party I'm throwing him?"

Michelle swatted him with the pillow "I do not sound like that"

"I'm just saying it would have been an interesting conversation," he laughed.

"How many are there?" she asked.

"What old girlfriends?" he asked with a smile "Well… hmm… serious ones?" she nodded and he thought for a second "I'd say 5"

"Tell me" she said with a smile getting comfortable.

"Ugh" he groaned looking at the ceiling "Let's see… one serious girlfriend in high school"

"Name?"

"Brittany" he said and she smiled quietly letting him know to continue, "She was nice"

She shook her head "that's it?"

"What?" he said smiling "you wanna know more?… hmm… well she was the one I lost it to… she was kind of a slut"

"Kind of?" Michelle asked.

"Well I didn't think so at the time, but I guess Gina was right… Gina always said she was a whore"

Michelle smiled "So Gina didn't like her…what did you like about her?"

Tony scratched the side of his face at the question "She was pretty and she had lots of friends… she was just… fun I guess… she was always smiling and seductive and I was a teenage boy so that seemed great"

Michelle nodded "Girlfriend two?"

"Amber… I remember it was my third semester of college" he said"…we actually didn't date for too long."

"Why?"

"Found out she was married"

"Ouch!"

"I know…who gets married that young anyway?" he said shaking his head "She was shy, but really nice…like innocent"

"Innocent?"

"Yea… didn't sleep with her… wasn't with her long enough" Tony said "Anyway I thought it was cute that she was so nice… like I could take care of her cause she was so shy and stuff… until I heard about the husband… I had to end that," he said running his hand through his hair "Next is Chelsea" he said pausing "She was right toward the end of college"

"What was special about her?"

"She was… " He thought, "Lively… she was always happy and if I was having a bad day she would do everything she could to cheer me up, she always found little ways to show me how much she loved me so it was nice"

"Did you love her?" Michelle asked.

"At the time I coulda sworn it was love, but looking back it really wasn't" he looked into her eyes "With you I've been knocked off my feet by love and there is no doubt in my mind that I've never felt this way before… so no… it wasn't love, but she was nice"

"What happened?"

"I don't know" he said "She just decided one day that she didn't think we were meant to be…and then I found out she had started talking to an old boyfriend of hers, so I don't know… I guess they probably got back together" he said, "She was the only girlfriend I ever had before you that Gina actually liked… Gina always thought Amber was weird, but she got along with Chelsea" he continued, "Anyway, next was Alyssa" he sighed "She was the rebound girl…and she was pretty weird now that I think about it…Gina refused to even go near her after meeting her" he laughed "But she was different and interesting… I actually wasn't really that romantic with her… we never slept together… but we did go on a lot of trips… skiing, parasailing, and stuff... she was more of something to keep my mind off Chelsea, but I realized after about 6 months it wasn't going anywhere and moved on"

"Do you still think about Chelsea?"

"I used to" he said honestly "But ever since I've met you I haven't thought about her at all… now is actually the first time I remembered her in a long time... and I used to always feel bad when I thought about her, but now I'm not sad at all… if things had worked out with her I would've never gotten a chance to be with you, so I'm really glad she ended it, and I hope she's happy because I am"

_I set out on a narrow way many years ago  
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road  
But I got lost a time or two  
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through  
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you_

Every long lost dream led me to where you are  
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through  
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you  
But you just smile and take my hand  
You've been there you understand  
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Now I'm just rolling home  
Into my lover's arms  
This much I know is true  
That God blessed the broken road  
That led me straight to you

Michelle smiled and kissed him. "So next was Nina?"

"Yea" he said, "Another one Gina didn't like…and that's an understatement" he chuckled "Gina HATED Nina… she was always arguing with her"

"Sounds like Gina is better at judging your women than you are"

"Well she loves you so I have nothing to worry about" he smiled.

"What did you like about Nina?" Michelle asked.

"She was in control, hard-core and I guess that was a turn on" he said "she was ballsy and kept me on my toes… but apparently she had a lot more up her sleeve that I was clueless about…"

"And that's her flaw, not yours" Michelle said kissing him "You deserved better than her anyway.

"And I got it" he smiled. He said "How about you? Got any boyfriends I don't know about?"

She rolled onto her back "Yea ….umm…4 serious ones" she said "First was in high school… Dylan"

"What did you like about him?" Tony asked.

Michelle smiled "Uh… he was really smart.. a little geeky, but cute… I felt like I was always learning something with him around and when he talked everyone was always impressed at how smart he was and I liked that" she said "But after awhile it got tiresome so I ended it" she continued "Then there was Brian in college my first semester" she said "he was really cute and I thought he was so amazing… so I was under the impression that he was so perfect… he wasn't… he turned out to be a jerk… we both ended it.. he was disappointed in me I think.." she said playing with her fingers nervously.

"I don't see anything disappointing," he said with a smile kissing her.

"You're different" she smiled softly "Then during college about halfway through was Roger… he was nice, always doing romantic things but I decided he was just settling because even though he was sweet… we didn't have too much in common and it wasn't fun or exciting… it was just okay" she said "Then there was Jay who I met after I graduated"

"Ya know its funny" Tony said caressing Michelle's face "I always thought I'd have to chose" he explained, "Did I want a fun girl? A nice one? One who was shy? One who was always happy? Or a hard-core sexy chick?" he said "I always thought that at some point I'd have to make up my mind and decide what kind of girl I wanted…then I met you and realized… I could have it all"


	67. Chapter 67 Fearless

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Taylor Swift_)

~ Chapter 67 ~

"Oh… my…God…" she gasped with her hand over her mouth "Michelle you look so incredibly beautiful" Bella said slowly putting the other dresses down and walking over to where Michelle stood.

Michelle blushed and looked down at the sparkly white dress she was wearing. It hugged her torso showing off her perfect curves with glimmering beads down to where it flowed off her hips to the floor "I think this is the one" she said with a smile looking into the mirror and imagining walking down the aisle in it.

"Uh yea" Gina smiled "We definitely got a winner," she said feeling the soft material "You glow in it" Gina smiled.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Alright sign here for the flooring" a man said handing Tony a clipboard.

Tony looked around at all the beautiful flooring "Did you leave extra tiles for the shower in the master bathroom?" Tony asked signing the paper.

"Yea" he responded, "You'll have plenty"

"Alright" he said handing him the papers "It looks great, thank you Craig"

"Mr. Almeida" a painter called from behind Tony.

"Yea?"

"Is Michelle here?"

"No she's trying on dresses"

He smiled "Ok, did she decide what color she wants to go with for the accent wall in the master bedroom?"

"Uh yea she wants the burnt cinnamon color," Tony said.

"Alright" the painter smiled "We'll start that Friday"

"When do you think all the painting will be done?"

"Next Sunday if all goes according to plan"

"Great" Tony said.

He looked around at their dream home and smiled. It was modern and cozy. From the outside it seemed big but very inviting and looked as secure as a castle. It had lots of windows and was a very warm tan color. Tony walked, as you came in the front door you were greeted by a large open foyer that led to an open area there was a sunken living room with a fireplace to the left, which once it was painted and furnished with big couches would be nice and cozy, and to the right was a large open kitchen with lots of windows and glass doors leading to the backyard.

As Tony walked further into the house he followed the hall and saw the stairs to his right where the painters were painting and to the left was a small bathroom followed by a study and a dining room that led back to the kitchen on his right. He smiled as he looked around and imagined their kids running up and down the stairs, he looked into the dining room and imagined big family dinners they would host there and as he headed upstairs he imagined all the times he would climb these same stairs carrying their little ones to bed. He walked into the master bedroom and imagined he and Michelle enjoying nights together in the brand new king sized bed he had secretly ordered for them which would arrive next week. He smiled brightly as he thought about how this house would hold their future.

_(Later)_

Tony hopped into his car and smiled as he turned it on. He set the computer to dial Michelle as he drove.

"Dessler"

"Hey baby, how's it goin?"

"Hi sweetheart, it's great…" her smile grew "I found it"

"Yea?" he smiled

"Definitely… it's so beautiful"

"I'm sure you had something to do with that" he smiled

She smiled then her phone beeped "oh Danny's calling"

"Answer it" Tony said "I'll talk to you later"

"You heading straight to CTU?"

"Yea" he sighed "But I'll call ya later"

"Ok I love you," she said

"Love you too baby" he said.

"Danny?" she said picking up the other line.

"You're getting married?!" he asked.

"I meant to call you before the invitation got there" she said apologetically.

"Michelle I seriously think you are rushing into this and you're gonna regret it so-"

"I can absolutely assure you I won't"

"Ugh!" he yelled, "You are _so stubborn_! Listen to me Michelle! You can't see it because you are being blinded by all of it, I know it _seems_ so great but stop and think for a second!"

"I have and I am _sure_"

I'm not usually this way but  
You pull me in and I'm a little more brave

And I don't know how it gets better than this  
You take my hand and drag me head first fearless  
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress  
Fearless

"Michelle, _mark my words_ right now" he said calming down "remember this moment…when I told you that you will regret this and you blew me off"

"I'm not blowing you off, I know what I'm doing, I'm a grown woman, let me make my choices"

He sighed with frustration "I'm not comfortable with this," he said.

"You don't have to be," she said, after a minute she spoke again "…are you coming to the wedding?"

"Of course I am" he sighed "but Michelle, promise me you'll think about this"

"I have… in fact this is all I think about… so don't worry… I'll see you at the wedding" she said hanging up with a sigh. 'Doesn't he remember?' she thought 'He's the one who can't control his love life… not me' She knew he was just having a natural protective reaction, but it was really annoying. She flopped backwards onto the bed. She wondered what her mother would be saying right now. Her memory of her mother was become fuzzier and fuzzier as she got older which upset her. Her mother would have loved Tony. She wondered what her dad would think… 'he should know' she thought sitting up.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Finally" Brad Hammond said as Tony entered the situation room.

"You just called me 25 minutes ago" Tony said defensively.

"You live 15 minutes from here" he said.

"I'm moving" Tony said.

"Whatever" Hammond said, "Here's your briefing packet"

_(Later)_

"Ok your name?"

"Michelle Dessler" Michelle answered handing the guard her driver's license.

Ten minutes later he entered the room. He looked miserable, his face had changed and he looked angry. His eyebrows lowered and he squinted at her "Michelle?"

"Hey Dad" she said with a small nervous smile.

"You know this is no place for young women, I don't like you being here"

"It's ok," she said "I'm a federal agent, I deal with worse than this all the time"

"What?" his face dropped with surprise "A federal agent?"

"Yea" she smiled "So you don't have to worry about me"

He took a breath and nodded his head "…that's impressive" he admitted "Did this just happen?"

"No I've been working for a counter terrorism agency for awhile now, but I actually came to talk to you about something else…something more important"

"What… is Danny ok?"

She stopped and hesitated "No Dad, Danny's fine… he went through a rough patch, but he and the family are doing really well last I heard"

He thought for a second "ok… that sounds good I guess…"

"I came to tell you that I'm getting married"

His head shot up "Married?"

She smiled, she couldn't help it "Yea, his names Tony"

Her Dad nodded slowly "When are you getting married?"

"3 weeks" she smiled.

"God you've grown up so much" he said sadly "When I picture you I still picture an 18 year old kid… but you're not" he said looking at her "you're a woman now… a beautiful one" he hesitated "and you're getting married" he looked up "I want to meet him."

Michelle bit her bottom lip "Yea" she said nodding "Of course"

"I wanna meet with him alone, man to man"

She eyed him closely "Okay" She stood as the guard came into the room.

"I want Danny to take my place at your wedding…ya know…walk you down the aisle and give you away" he said sadly.

She nodded, looked down then returned her gaze to her father "Okay" she said starting to walk out.

"Michelle" he called and she turned around.

'Thank you" he said "For coming to visit, and telling me… it means a lot that you let me be a part of your life"

"You have always been a part of my life, that will never change"

_(Later that night)_

Michelle laid in bed staring at the ceiling. She glanced at the clock '11:42'. She heard the front door shut. She leaned forward supporting herself with her elbows. A minute later he opened the door slowly. "Finally" she sighed with a smile.

He smiled and dropped his bags hurrying over to her. He crawled on top of her and kissed her "I told you not to wait up" he smiled.

"I need you to sleep," she said kissing him "You know that"

He laid down next to her and she hugged him tightly. When she pulled back he looked into her eyes and saw that she had something on her mind "Everything okay?"

Her face became sad "You should have seen him Tony" her voice was heavy with emotion "he looked so angry"

"Prison is hard," he said "But he's still the same man he always was under all of it… just remember that"

She nodded "Thank you for agreeing to go see him next week"

"Of course" he said stroking her hair "I want to meet him" he said. He looked down and scratched the side of his face "I know I never told you this, but I didn't want to upset you..."

She looked at him unsurely "What?"

"I uh…" he started "I went to your mom's grave a couple weeks ago"

Michelle face broke as her eyes filled with tears "You did?"

"I just wanted to pay my respects and… I dunno… just… I felt like I should …" he paused trying to find the proper words "show her some sort of gratitude"

She touched his face then kissed him passionately. He kissed her back with even more passion, he had missed her all day and it showed in how he kissed her.

Ten minutes later they laid still wrapped in each others arms. Michelle's voice broke the silence "I'm starting to have trouble remembering her… like the picture in my head is not as good as it used to be"

"You need to have more pictures around the house of her" he said stroking her face "and your father"

She looked deeply into his eyes "in our new home"

He smiled "Which, by the way, should be finished next week, then I'll have it cleaned and we can start moving your furniture from your other apartment in"

She smiled "that's so great!" she kissed him.

"Yup, then all we have to do is pack this place up and we'll be set to go on our wedding day"

She smiled and looked up at the ceiling again "You know it's funny" she said quietly "I used to love going to sleep at night because it meant the day was finally over and I could rest and hide from the world" he nodded playing with her curls. She rolled over to face him and smiled stroking his face "but with you, I just can't wait to wake up in the morning"


	68. Chapter 68 With You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

~ Chapter 68 ~

"You're an angel" he whispered softly. He stroked her face slowly with his thumb; her cheek was pink from her face being tucked into his neck all night. She looked completely relaxed and happy, her arm was draped over her bare abdomen he smiled and kissed her hand as he stared at her engagement ring. "You're my angel" he leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

She slowly awoke "Hey" she said groggily.

"Good morning beautiful" he said softly. She rolled her eyes with a smile "What?" he asked with a chuckle at her adorable little attitude.

"My hair is a mess, I'm still wearing last nights make-up and...Oh! What's this on my lips?...drool?" she said wiping the side of her mouth then looking at her hand "oh...yea that's downright sexy"

He chuckled and kissed her muttering into her neck "see you read my mind"

She laughed as she bent neck to let him in "you are so full of it"

He pulled back "I'm serious..." he smiled "only complaint I have is that you put the make-up on in the first place" he cupped her face "you...are naturally beautiful...whether you choose to acknowledge it or not" she smiled softly at him "and I'm just gonna keep telling you and telling you until you believe it" he kissed her chest.

"Thank you..."she said running her hands through his hair "I love you"

"You know I love you too" he smiled kissing her.

"Today I start my field training," she remembered aloud.

"You're gonna be a hard-core chick huh?" he chuckled kissing her stomach.

"I'm gonna be in such nice shape"

He kissed her in different parts of her stomach "I like your shape just fine"

"But now I'll have muscles, I'll be able to kick your ass"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" he said putting his hand up "I happen to be in great shape... I take Garren for morning runs when you are still sleeping"

"Oh yea?" she asked pretending not to believe him.

"Yea" he said "And by the way you'll never be able to kick my ass for one reason"

"What's that?"

"I can always do this" he said tossing her on his shoulder walking toward the bathroom she kicked and struggled to gain control "see you're helpless"

"Let me down!"

"And check out my nice muscles" he said lifting her up high in the air. She stopped kicking and clung to his arms.

"Tony! Tony!"

He lowered her down into his arms like a baby "Don't worry I won't let you fall"

Hey! Little mama,  
Oh, you're a stunner  
Hot little figure,  
Yes, you're a winner  
And I'm so glad to be yours,  
You're a class all your own  
And Oh, little cutie  
When you talk to me  
I swear the whole world stops  
You're my sweetheart  
And I'm so glad that you are mine  
You are one of a kind and

You mean to me  
What I mean to you and  
Together baby,  
There is nothing we won't do  
'cause if I got you,  
I don't need money,  
I don't need cars,  
Girl, you're my all.  
And

Oh!  
I'm into you,  
And girl,  
No one else would do,  
'cause with every kiss and every hug,  
You make me fall in love,  
And now I know I can't be the only one,  
I bet there heart's all over the world tonight,  
With the love of their life who feels..  
What I feel when I'm  
With you

And I..  
Will never try to deny,  
that you're my whole life,  
'cause if you ever let me go,  
I would die..  
So I won't front,  
I don't need another woman,  
I just need your all and nothing,  
'cause if I got that,  
Then I'll be straight  
Baby, you're the best part of my day 

_(Later)_

Tony stuck out his hand "Hello, Mr. Dessler. Tony Almeida, it's a pleasure to meet you"

Daniel rolled his eyes "Right"

"No I'm serious, I'm not just being polite" Tony said sitting down looking him straight in the eye.

"Oh yea?" he said narrowing his stare "Then explain to me what the hell is pleasurable about meeting your fiancé's dead-beat father in jail"

"It _is _a pleasure to meet the man who is half responsible for creating the most incredible woman I've ever met, who, by the way, talks very highly of you"

His expression softened "she does?"

"Yes, all the time" he said nodding "she tells me about her childhood, happy memories... she's never once told me a story about you being anything but a great father, so that's all I know you for...so explain to me what makes you a dead-beat"

His eyes were glassy, he raised his arms indicating to the fact he was in jail "What kind of great father can't even walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding because he's in jail for murder? Murder! I'm a murderer do-"

He stopped him "Maybe in the eye's of the law, but not to Michelle, and especially not to me... because I know that if it were me... if someone killed Michelle..." he paused and stared Daniel straight in the eye "I would've done the same thing"

"Even if it meant spending the rest of the best years of your life in jail?"

"If someone killed Michelle the best years of my life would be over… it would just be an instinct"

All of a sudden Daniel didn't feel angry anymore, he wasn't alone. "Thank you" he said simply.

"For what?" Tony asked.

Daniel thought for a second "I've been angry" he said slowly "People have come to visit and I've been angry because… they've forgiven me… for being a murderer" Tony nodded his head signaling for him to continue "But you… you didn't forgive me for being a monster… you forgave me for being human" he looked up at Tony "They say they forgive me… but they don't understand, but somehow you do"

Tony nodded "you're not a monster"

Daniel smiled and thought for a second. He looked up at Tony and shook his head with a smile "How do you have small talk after that?" he laughed.

Tony smiled "I don't know… you lead the way" he chuckled.

"Uh" Daniel thought, "Where do you work?"

"I'm a federal agent, like Michelle"

"So that's how you guys met?"

"Yea" he smiled.

"And what do you guys do exactly?"

"We run the LA headquarters office of the US counter-terrorism agency"

He blinked "Wow" he smiled "that's really something" he thought, "I had no idea... ya know its funny…" he shook his head "I don't even know her"

"She's amazing" Tony said "She cares about other people, risks her life to save other people, which I'm not a big fan of in the moment…but she's likes her job…and I mean you would have _no idea_ when you meet her that she could kick your ass and lay you out in 4 seconds because it's not her personality… outside of work she's fun-loving and kind…my mother and sister can't get enough of her and they drive me nuts with all this wedding stuff about flowers and dresses…and… I mean… I don't know how she goes from picking out flower bouquets to taking down a terrorist twice her size in hand-to-hand combat, but she does it" he shook his head smiling "All I know is you did something right… and for that you should be proud"

He nodded his head with glassy eyes. He looked up at Tony "You really love her don't you?"

"I do" Tony said nodding.

"You're a good man Tony… and you have my blessing" he smiled "if that means anything"

"It means something," Tony said shaking Daniels hand.

As the guard's ushered Daniel out of the room he stopped for a second "Tony"

"Yea?"

"It was a pleasure meeting you"

_(Later)_

Tony was watching TV in a recliner when he heard Michelle come in the door. She dropped her keys and purse on the counter and came into the living room "Hey sweetheart" he smiled pulling her down onto his lap. She laid back and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey" she smiled "How'd it go with my dad?"

"Great" Tony smiled.

She lifted her head a little "Really?" she smiled and he nodded "I'm so glad" she said resting her head again.

"How was your training?" he asked.

"It's a lot of stuff I've already learned, but it's hard physically… I'm so tired" she closed her eyes.

"You're gonna be sore in the morning" he said rubbing her thigh.

"Which is gonna make tomorrow's training so much fun" she said sarcastically.

He smiled and kissed the side of her face. "Alright you two, dismount for a second and tell me how I look," Gina said coming into the room with a dress on.

"Is that your bridesmaid's dress?" Tony asked.

"Yea" she said "We had it altered, what do you think?"

Michelle pulled herself off the recliner. She walked over and pulled up on the straps "Not too tight?"

"Nope"

"You look beautiful," Michelle said with a smile.

"You do" Tony seconded.

"Thanks" she smiled heading back upstairs.

"Alright Ms. Dessler" Tony said swooping Michelle up into his arms "I think it's time for bed"

Fifteen minutes later Michelle was ready and in bed. Tony crawled on top of her and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. Her kissed her lips, cheek then behind her ear… her "sweet spot", he pulled back and smiled eyeing her closely.

"What?" she giggled.

"Nothing…just, this is the moment I wait for all day… when I get to hold you and kiss you and no one can stop me" he said kissing her more.

"What a coincidence…" she smiled "me too"


	69. Chapter 69 Back at One

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Brian McKnight_)

~ Chapter 69 ~

The alarm buzzed loudly shaking Tony from his sleep. He reached over Michelle and silenced it. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her with a smile. He kissed her "Wake up baby"

Her eyes opened slowly "Good morning"

"Good Morning Sweetheart" he smiled kissing her again.

"4 days" she smiled.

"4 days" he smiled back at her kissing her tenderly as his phone rang.

He ignored it but she reached over and put it in his hand. "Answer it" she mumbled.

He groaned and shook his head rolling on top of her "No" putting the phone down next to them continuing to kiss her.

She handed it back to him pulling her face to the side so he was now kissing her cheek "Come on, don't piss him off"

Tony sighed flipping the phone open "Almeida" he sighed dropping next to her "Good morning Ryan" he said sarcastically.

She smiled and propped herself up watching him carefully.

"No you didn't wake me" he rolled his eyes knowing Ryan didn't really care "What progress report?" he asked "No… he didn't" he said annoyed "Oh really? Well that's insane" he sighed "I know it's not your fault, but you don't seem to be helping" he nodded "Yea but you have more of a say in that then I do… obviously" he sighed "Well I guess I don't have a choice do I?" he rolled his eyes "I guess… you know I will" he said "Alright…thanks" he closed the phone and tossed it to the foot of the bed "Wanna run away with me?"

She smiled "What are we running from?"

"Brad Hammond and his intensive progress report"

"When does he need it by?"

"As soon as possible… before we take our 5 days off"

"Those reports can take a week" she said as her mouth hung open.

"I know," he said rubbing his eyes "And I have 4 days"

_(Later)_

"Mom I'm really busy" Tony said sitting in his office.

"I know but I can't call Michelle and I need to make sure all of this is done by Saturday"

"Ok, ok what?" he said.

"Michelle says she has 5 agents picked out you need to tell them not let a single person in to the church if they are not on the list that I'm gonna give them"

"They'll have a guest list with pictures on their PDAs, Michelle already has it set up…anything else?"

"Michelle's hair appointment…they have a 12 and 1:30 available-"

"Just chose for her, I'm sure she'll take either one as long as it doesn't conflict with the photographer," he said scratching the side of her face "Now I gotta go"

He sighed. He looked down at her empty desk, he missed her. He glanced over at the picture he had on his desk of them, he smiled and plunged back into his work.

_(Later)_

Tony rubbed his eyes, they stung from staring at his computer screen, and he was only about 10% there. He scratched the side of his face then something caught his eye. Michelle was slowly climbing the stairs to his office. He smiled softly. She opened the door "What are you doin here baby?" he asked.

"I came to help you with the IPR" she said walking close to him.

"No sweetie you don't have to do that, you go home and rest"

She shook her head pulling a laptop off the table "No way am I leaving you here to do this all by yourself"

He pulled one of the comfy chairs behind his desk next to him for her to sit in "Here" he said taking the laptop from her as she slowly lowered herself into the chair. "You relax"

"Open me up a socket" she said pointing to the laptop "Come on, I insist, lets get this done"

He smiled, she was stubborn and he wasn't gonna even bother arguing with her. "Baby are you sure?"

"Yes" she said taking the laptop as it loaded the report. It loaded at she scanned the report "You haven't started the Comm. report" she said "I'll do that one while you finish the tactical" she said "And I will run diagnostic scans on the achieves"

He smiled "I can do that" he said.

"I know but I can do it faster" she smiled.

He raised his eyebrows; he knew she was right "Alright then I'll do the intelligence overview" he looked down at her; she was already hard at work. He smiled and leaned down kissing her in the side of the head "What would I do without you?"

She smiled tired up at him "I just wanna get this done so I can have my fiancé back." She sighed.

He pulled the laptop off her lap and pushed a button to darken the glass around his office. "Lets take a 5 minute break, you've had a long day" he said pulling her up into his lap, he wrapped his arms around her " Here, I'm all yours"

She smiled leaning down and kissing him softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder "Thank you" she sighed with a smile.

He rubbed her back "How was training?"

"Rough" she said with her eyes closed "but I feel a lot more confident"

"Just promise me you'll never stop being careful," he said.

"I promise," she said sincerely kissing his temple.

"Thank you" he smiled "You scare the hell outta me sometimes"

"Sorry"

"Its ok" he said kissing her "You hungry?"

"Actually yea, wanna get dinner?"

"Yea" he smiled.

Twenty minutes later Tony walked in with a pizza. He looked down at Michelle working "Hey! What did I say! No working without me!" he smiled shaking his head.

"Just getting a head start on those scans, now they can run while we eat" she said putting the laptop aside.

"Thankfully only the night shift is here so they won't even bother us, most of them work from tech 2 anyway, and they rarely use the bullpen.

"Wow CTU to ourselves" she smiled.

"Almost" he smiled wiggling his eyebrows.

Michelle's phone rang. She picked it up "Dessler"

"Hey Michelle it's Liz"

"Hey what's up?" she said with a smile taking a bite of her pizza.

"Just wanted to let you know I got my dress"

"Does it fit?"

"Yup" she said.

"Ok" Michelle said awkwardly "Was there something else?"

"Just… how ya doin?"

"I'm fine" Michelle said "Why?"

"No second thoughts? You're totally ready? Just wanna make sure you are ok"

"No second thoughts, I was ready yesterday, and yes… I feel great" she smiled "thank you"

"You know that you can call me if you wanna talk about anything"

"I know" she smiled "But you don't have to worry, I really want this"

"Ok…if you say so… I'll see you Saturday" she said.

"Ok bye" Michelle said hanging up "That was Liz, worrying"

"You girls and you're worrying… not one of my friends has called me second-guessing my decision"

Michelle rolled her eyes as she finished her pizza "uh huh… you men are just so sure about everything"

"Com'ere you" he said picking her up and sitting her on his desk "Just in case you ever had any second thoughts" he kissed her passionately.

She smiled and kissed him back her hands ran through his hair as his began to explore up her shirt. She whispered in his ear "I've never had any second thoughts"

_It's undeniable_

_That we should be together  
It's unbelievable _

_How I used to say that I'd fall never  
The basis is need to know, if you don't know just how I feel,  
Then let me show you now that I'm for real  
If all things in time, time will reveal_

_So Incredible_

_The way things work themselves out  
And all emotional_

_Once you know what it's all about babe  
And undesirable for us to be apart  
Never would of made it very far  
Cause you know that you've got the keys to my heart_

_Say farewell to the dark of night... I see the coming of the sun...  
I feel like a little child... whose life has just begun...  
You came and breathed new life  
Into this lonely heart of mine...  
You threw out the life line... just in the nick of time....._

_One... you're like a dream come true...  
Two... just wanna be with you...  
Three... girl it's plain to see... that your the only one for me...  
Four... repeat steps one through three...  
Five... make you fall in love with me...  
If ever I believe my work is done... then I start Back at One_

As he touched her she felt herself go weak and let herself lay back onto the desk, her hands wandered down into his pants and he smiled then pulled back.

"Baby we should stop while we still can" he panted "Trust me, I want you more than anything in the world, but I want our first time to be perfect and this…" he pointed to the desk they were laying on "Is less than perfect"

She nodded with a smiled pulling a loose pen out of her hair "You're right"

"However, I am not above taking you home right this second" he offered with a smile.

"No you're right" she smiled "We're almost there" she kissed him tenderly.

"4 days"


	70. Chapter 70 Here

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 70 ~

*

Alright here it is:) The wedding!

Hope you enjoy! Some parts are skipped, but don't worry many flashbacks of this day are to come, so in the end you won't be missing out:)

Looking forward to hearing your reviews!

*

_(40 hours before the wedding)_

It had been two long days of work when they finally got home. It was close to midnight as Tony carefully carried a sleeping Michelle up to their bedroom. He heard a noise and froze.

"Tony?" Gina said walking toward him in her PJs.

He sighed, "Gina you scared me"

She looked at Michelle and smiled "_What_ are you doing?"

"She's asleep," he said.

"I can see that" she said as Tony walked past her bringing Michelle into the bedroom. "Where did you guys sleep last night?"

"CTU" he said pulling her sweatshirt off gently

"Again?" she asked in disbelief.

He sighed "Yea" taking off her shoes "And we didn't really sleep"

"You finish that project?"

"Yea, finally" he said pulling two pairs of sweatpants out of his dresser.

"Well you better get some sleep, you're weddings tomorrow" she smiled.

Tony spun around "What? It's Thursday right?... the wedding's not until Saturday" he said worried.

"Actually its Friday" she said pointing to the clock.

He sighed '12:06' "Very funny..." he shook his head "goodnight" he closed the door as she disappeared down the hall. He looked back at Michelle, his future wife and smiled.

_(4 hours before the wedding)_

He sat on the couch watching television. He was bored 'Stupid women and their non-sense about not being able to see Michelle in her dress before the wedding' he looked around, the house was beautiful and already had pictures of them sprinkled all around and he had some more frames to be filled with wedding pictures. He picked up one of the frames on the table in front of him, it had caught his eye instantly. It was silver with purple swirls elegantly tracing the edge, he looked at it and wondered what it would soon be inside, he imagined the beautiful picture of happiness it would hold. His phone chirped. He read the text 'I miss you:( -Michelle'

He answered 'I miss you too baby, how you doing?'

'Nervous... it's really crazy here with everyone running around... it's a little overwhelming... can I see you? -Michelle'

'What about not seeing the bride before the wedding?' he asked.

'It doesn't matter... I just need to breathe for a second -Michelle'

He smiled as he drove and texted back 'I'm already half-way there'

_(5 minutes later)_

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked.

"Michelle wants to see me," he said stepping in.

Michelle looked up and smiled, he walked over and took her hand "Hey" he said leading her to the bedroom. He closed the door and she fell into his arms "Thank you so much" she sighed hugging him "I really needed this"

He smiled nuzzling his face into her neck "me too" he sighed happily.

"I was just getting overwhelmed with all the girls running around me in circles freaking out about flowers and dresses and hair... when all I'm thinking about is you" she said pulling herself up to kiss him then she ran her fingers through his hair "I love you so much Tony"

He pulled her chin up to his and kissed her tenderly "I love you too my beautiful bride"

Bella knocked on the door "Michelle! You're hair appointment is in 15 minutes! Come on!"

"You gonna make it?" he said giving her a half smile while looking into her eyes.

"Yea I' m fine now" she kissed him "thanks to you"

_(Later)_

"How do you feel?" Liz asked Michelle as Bella helped Gina with her veil.

"Nervous... excited... anxious" she answered playing with her fingers.

A CTU agent standing in the corner said, "2 minutes Ms. Dessler"

"Thank you," she said with a smile "I'm so nervous" she repeated.

Gina smiled "You'll be fine when you get up there with Tony"

She smiled, they were in this together, Tony would be with her, and her nerves began to settle... until she heard the music begin.

Her heart jumped as the huge doors swung open and she looked up to see everyone she knew standing along the aisle staring at her.

He was completely paralyzed, he couldn't even remember how to breathe, but it didn't matter because in this moment he didn't need air, all he needed was walking toward him.

She was beat red and smiling uncontrollably, which made him smile naturally. Her eyes were locked on his. The world around her ceased to exist as she looked into his eyes.

Before he knew it she was right in front of him. Danny slowly let her arm go and gave her a kiss on the cheek then gave Tony a look that seemed to say 'you better take good care of her,' but Tony didn't dwell on this, he took Michelle's hands in his, kissing her left hand.

'I love you' she mouthed to him with a smile as the service began.

He smiled as he looked deep into her eyes. Her eyes, which had seen so many tragic and terrible things that were now full of love and completely focused on him. Those eyes now and forever would reflect his heart.

She looked up at his shoulders, which had carried heavy burdens that were now hers to cry on, the same shoulders that she cuddled into every night.

He gazed down at her hands, the ones that had fought, hurt, and arrested terrorists, the ones that were now his to hold.

She looked at his big strong arms that had killed and tortured people that were now devoted to protecting her. They were the same arms that had saved her life that would carry her and hold her..."so long as you both shall live" the preachers words rang.

"I do," he said firmly with a huge smile on his face.

Her smile grew, those words had never meant so much to her... the most amazing man with those two words had just devoted the rest of his life to loving her. She wished there were words to show how much she loved him

"I do" she answered the preacher in a voice that was soft but heavy with emotion.

A few seconds later the congregation stood roared to life with applause as Tony gently lifted her veil and pulled her face toward his. Michelle could have sworn she was in heaven as she kissed her husband. From that second on everything seemed perfect. It was the most perfect day of their lives and it passed by them at light speed. Before she knew it Tony was leading her onto the dance floor as their favorite song began to play.

_There's a place I've been looking for  
That took me in and out of buildings  
Behind windows, walls and doors  
And I thought I found it  
Couple times, even settled down  
And I'd hang around just long enough  
To find my way back out  
I know now the place that I was trying to reach  
Was you, right here in front of me_

And I wouldn't change a thing  
I'd walk right back through the rain  
Back to every broken heart  
On the day that it was breakin'  
And I'd relive all the years  
And be thankful for the tears  
I've cried with every stumbled step  
That led to you and got me here, right here

It's amazing what I let my heart go through  
To get me where it got me  
In this moment here with you  
And it passed me by  
God knows how many times  
I was so caught up in holding  
What I never thought I'd find  
I know now, there's a million roads  
I had to take  
To get me in your arms that way

In a love I never thought I'd get to get to  
Here  
And if that's the road  
God made me take to be with you

And I'd relive all the years  
And be thankful for all the tears  
I've cried with every stumbled step  
That led to you and got me here, right here

_(Later)_

Tony swung open the door to their brand new home. He carried Michelle in and she looked around with a huge smile.

She kissed him and he whispered "Welcome home Mrs. Almeida"

Her smile grew as she leaned her forehead against his. "It's beautiful"

"Please… allow me to take you on a tour" he said carrying her to the right into the kitchen "This is the kitchen... with brand new appliances which you probably won't use much" he smiled turning and following into the next room "The dining room..." he spun around and headed out to the foyer then went straight and stepped down into the living room "The living room with nice big TV, couches and a fireplace" he went down the hall "our study" she giggled as he headed up the stairs "and the most important room..." he smiled pushing the door at the end of the hall open. The walked in "our bedroom"

"I have a feeling this room will be my favorite" she smiled kissing him.

He laid her down on the bed "Me too"

He looked down at his beautiful bride. He quietly slipped his shoes off then slowly took hers off and crawled on top of her, their eyes locked and he kissed her, slowly at first quickly gaining passion. His hands ran up and down her body searching for the zipper on her dress but he stopped when he found it. He looked into her eyes "You ready baby?" he asked stroking her cheek. She nodded; he could tell she was nervous "Don't be nervous, I've got ya" he soothed stroking her face as he gently unzipped her dress.

She helped him pull it off and soon she was down to her bra and panties. She lay there watching him closely, he leaned down and began kissing her again whispering "Michelle you are so beautiful" as they kissed he began to unbutton his shirt and take it off. He kissed her neck and whispered "my pants"

She smiled and unbuttoned them sliding them off. As she did this he slid her bra off. He looked down and smiled as her kissed her breasts as his hands slid down her body sending shockwaves of excitement through her body as he slid her panties off. He looked up at her, she was watching him nervously, he eased her by returning his lips to her and she kissed him passionately as she pulled his boxers off tossing them aside. He moaned into her mouth as he felt the excitement swelling up inside of him. He moved his lips away kissing her chin then her neck, her chest trailing all the way down and when he finally reached his destination he felt her body spasm, he held her steady as he continued making her moan as her breathing became panting. "Tony" she called him weakly. "Tony! Tony… I…" she couldn't hold a thought in her head "Tony I need _you_" she pleaded with what felt like her last breath as she felt her whole body tense up in a way she had never felt before. At the sound of her voice he felt himself stiffen.

"Tony I" she panted "need _you _now" her voice grew higher pitched as he returned to her.

"I'm right here baby," he said slowly sliding himself into her.

She fell silent as her body reacted to him and she looked up to him with eyes begging for him. He couldn't control himself any longer so he began to move rhythmically and to his surprise she pushed back passionately. It wasn't long before he felt her go weak under him he pushed her harder and whispered "its ok baby" as he felt her being pushed over the edge. Michelle cried out as pleasure cascaded through her body, her body relaxed into the soft mattress, as she felt paralyzed. She closed her eyes and felt Tony kissing her neck whispering, "I love you" in her ear.

She was unable to speak so in response she pushed him, when she did this she heard him moan so she continued pushing harder and harder with all the energy she had left, rolling them over so she was above him continuing to push him until she felt him come. She collapsed on top of him whispering in his ear "I love you so much Tony" then nuzzling her face into his neck as he wrapped his arms around her.

As his breathing steadied he pulled her face to his. Her eyes were filled with tears. He kissed a tear that was streaming down her face "You okay?"

She smiled "yea" she took a deep breath "that was amazing" he stroked her hair and smiled as she thought "and before I thought that there was no way I could possibly love you more than I already did… but now" she locked eyes with him "I've never felt anything like this before…. Never felt this close to anyone… never felt this good… never been _so_ in love… its…amazing"

His smile grew "I've had sex before…but Michelle, never like that" he said stroking her face "it was to a whole new level, it wasn't a game, it wasn't just having fun and feeling good… I was completely absorbed in loving you…like I always thought sex was good and fun but…this wasn't sex…this was…making love, which is so much different because I'm not thinking about how _I_ feel at all… I spent all my energy pushing _you_ harder making _you_ feel good, and when you came…my god, that was _amazing_…more amazing for me than my own first time, just holding you as you came through it, I don't know, it was the most powerful thing I've ever felt"

"So I did good?" she smiled sheepishly.

He smiled "You were perfect" he kissed her "You took my breath away…even after you came when you were still reeling from your first time… you got back up and made sure I finished" he stroked her cheek "that couldn't have been easy"

She let out a small laugh "I wanted to make you happy…" she took a breath and looked down then looked back up "I was nervous"

"Yea I noticed, like when I had to remind you that my pants were still on" he chuckled kissing her.

She blushed "I just wasn't sure what-"

"Hey" he stopped her "You were perfect… amazing… No woman, not even the ones that had sex many many times have ever made me feel the way I just felt with you" he smiled "You are special" he stroked her cheek "no other woman could top what you just did"

She smiled "Want me to do it again?"

"The answer to that Michelle" he chuckled kissing her "will always be yes"


	71. Chapter 71 Hanging by a Moment

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Lifehouse_)

~ Chapter 71 ~

Tony opened is eyes to the phone ringing and groaned "Is someone seriously calling us while we're on our honeymoon..." Michelle rolled onto her back slowly opening her eyes "I told ya we shoulda skipped the country...no phones, no people, no clothes-" the phone began to ring again "Really!?" he jumped out of bed and stomped over to the dresser where the phone was, he snatched it up angrily and looked at it 'CTU' "if this is Ryan I swear to God-" he pushed the talk button and changed his voice to a pleasant secretary voice "Good morning Almeida residence"

Michelle giggled at him rubbing her eyes then rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

Tony watched her every move "Hi...is Tony there?"

"Unfortunately you're speaking to him"

"Oh...its Chloe...we just need the new subsystem key" he heard the shower turn on.

He covered the phone "Michelle! Wait for me!" he put the phone back to his ear "its under ctu-division passkeys...password lincoln-7-8-3-charlie...k gotta go bye" he threw the phone onto the bed and ran to the bathroom.

She squealed as he hopped into the shower grabbing her pulling her close tickling her so she would go weak.

Chloe heard this and decided to hang up.

A few minutes later Tony was collapsed at the bottom of the shower looking up at the water falling down onto them "Oh yea... that's definitely my favorite way to start the day... ya think they make soft padding for the shower floor?" he looked down at Michelle who was still panting "Michelle?"

"Hold on" she whispered "Just waiting for the world to start spinning again"

"Come here, I'll make your world spin" he smiled leaning toward her pulling her close.

Her eyes lit up and she giggled, "We still have 3 rooms left"

He smiled "you're right!" he stood up pulling her up with him "I vote we do the guest bedroom next...it has a soft bed"

She smiled "Whatsa matter? Old man? Back can't handle it?"

He smiled "You've been giving me a good workout these past 5 days and between the shower and the kitchen floor it's been rough" he chuckled.

"And who was on the bottom on the dining room table? Kitchen counter? And who gets thrown up against almost every wall?" she said raising an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.

"I never heard you complaining" He laughed and threw her up into his arms running toward the guest bedroom. They fell onto the bed together. He put his arm over her and began to lift himself above her but she quickly flipped him back over and pinned him down "Here... tell me if this is too rough for you're back" she smiled slowly gently pushing herself up against him. His reaction was fierce but she controlled herself taking her time and going as slow and gentle as possible with a smile knowing it was driving him crazy. His breathing turned to panting as he begged her "Michelle... more... please... please… uh Chelle..." he gripped the sheets and his eyes squeezed shut.

She smiled taking her time and whispering "you want me to go harder? Are you sure?"

He squirmed as his whole body ached for her "you… are killing me" he groaned trying to take control "this is torture... _please baby_ _push_"

She decided she'd made him wait long enough and she was having trouble controlling herself so she took his hands and began to give him exactly what he was begging for.

A few minutes later he looked at her laying next to him and smiled "Oh no... I've created a monster" she giggled and blushed slightly "Do you have any idea what you just did to me?... I've never ever felt that kind of longing... I could feel every little move you made and each little movement...I felt it everywhere driving me insane needing more like I couldn't breathe without it... I couldn't breathe without you... you almost killed me" he chuckled "Now it's my turn..." he smiled wickedly "in the study" she smiled and jumped up disappearing out the door.

_(Later)_

"I don't want to go work tomorrow" Michelle said as they cuddled on a flip-flop shaped floatie in their pool watching the sunset.

"Ugh...why'd ya have to go and remind me?" he complained "I was just having a very nice daydream of what we could do for the last room tomorrow...the laundry room" he closed his eyes "ohhh yea" she scrunched her nose and pushed him off the floatie into the pool.

"Hey!" he yelled as he hit the water leaving her giggling and watching closely waiting for his counter-attack. He pushed the floatie up into the air sending her flying into the water. She quickly returned to the surface slightly shivering as a cool breeze from the ocean swept over them.

"Com'ere" he said pulling her into his warm embrace with her back to him so they could both watch the sunset "That… was not very nice missy" he said kissing the spot behind her ear "I had to teach you a lesson" he said sucking on her neck below her ear.

Her eyes rolled back in pleasure as her knees went weak but he held her up "Tony…" her breath was shallow now "Tony… stop-…oOo" she smiled "Tony…. Tony Almeida we have work tomorrow!"

"Ugh!" he grunted letting himself sink back down into the water. Michelle rubbed her neck trying to feel for anything when all of a sudden Tony came rushing from the water under her. Her grabbed her knees onto his shoulders and she was thrust into the air. She held tightly onto his head "Ahh! Tony!" she gasped trying to keep her balance.

He held her tightly and spun in circle causing her to squeal. He slowed down and looked up at her "No more talking about work?"

She looked down at him "Ok" she pulled his face to hers and kissed him upside down "No more talking about… ya know" she smiled.

"Good" he said going back down into the water to let her off. As he came back up behind her she felt goose bumps form all over her "Ya cold?' he whispered.

"Yea" she said leaning her head back onto his shoulder looking up at him.

"I have an idea" he whispered with a smile "Something to warm you up"

"Me too" she smiled mischievously.

He smiled "I was thinking about our nice big fireplace, we could curl up in front of it"

"I was thinking of making love" she smiled.

He lifted her into his arms "I say we put them together"

_(The next day)_

Tony pulled his SUV into his normal parking spot and sighed, "Well, here we are"

"Remember we have to act really profe-" she began to say until he grabbed her face pulling her in for a passionate kiss. After a few seconds she slowed the kiss down and pulled back slowly "Tony…"

"Ok" he smiled "I'm ready now"

As they walked towards the doors she spoke in a low tone only he could hear "We have to make sure we don't show any sign of emotion, we have to be completely professional, because they'll be watching us very closely" she said as they buzzed through the door.

"Yea one little hint and they'll be calling Chappelle" he sighed "And the last thing we need is-"

"Tony" Michelle stopped him putting her arm out in front of him to stop him.

He looked up and saw everyone in the situation room standing around a white cake. "You have got to be kidding me" he smirked.

She closed her eyes and let out a laugh shaking her head as they approached the room cautiously.

"Congratulations!" They all said in unison.

Tony smiled scratching the side of his face putting his hands on his hips then looked over at Michelle who was blushing and smiling. "Thank you very much" she smiled.

"Yea, thanks guys, it's a good thing we didn't have breakfast" he said "So much for staying low key" he muttered in her ear as they cut the cake.

"Apparently the idea of us being married doesn't bother them too much" she said in a low voice with a smile.

"Congratulations you two!" Diane from medical said hugging Michelle "You look _great _by the way!"

Michelle blushed slightly and looked down smiling, then she looked up "I _feel_ great" she glanced up at Tony and smiled.

_"Have I mentioned how absolutely beautiful you look today?" he whispered into her ear softly with his arms wrapped around her as they walked to the dance floor and their favorite song began._

_She blushed "You might have mentioned it once or twice" she smiled sarcastically turning to face him._

_He wrapped his arms around her lower back as she wrapped hers around the back of his neck "Did I tell you I love you more than anything?"_

_She smiled brightly and nodded her head "Yea 4 times so far today... and I remember every one"_

_"Yea?"_

_"Yup... first when we were in bed this morning you kissed me and told me... you whispered it to me when we kissed at the ceremony... and again in the limo on the way here... and now" she smiled kissing him lightly on the lips._

_"Is that too much?" _

_"It's never too much" she said pulling herself close to him resting her head on his chest "Tony?"_

_He looked down at her "Yea baby?"_

_"Did I ever tell you that" she looked up at him with a tear in her eye "that you are the love of my life and I would give anything to be in your arms"_

_He smiled and lent down kissing her tenderly "you just did"_

A glazed happy look spread across Michelle's face at the memory. "You ok Michelle?" Kim said waving a hand in front of Michelle's face.

She snapped out of it "Yea..." she smiled "I'm fine, just thinking"

"So we celebrate a lot around here?" she smiled looking around.

"No" she laughed looking to the other side of the room where Tony was re-enacting a home-run hit by the cubs he'd seen last week, "this was out of nowhere, you definitely surprised us"

"Hey Michelle congratulations" Jack said with a smile walking up behind Kim.

"Thanks"

"I wish you two the best of luck" he smile faded a little "because I can tell you from experience this won't be easy" he gave her a small smile.

She looked at him questioningly "In what way?"

"This job and relationships of any kind don't mix" Kim stared at the floor "There could come a day where this job threatens what you love..." Michelle glanced back at Tony who was laughing and smiling "I'm just saying be prepared" he smiled politely.

"I am" she said, "There's no tough decision to be made, I love Tony more than this job and that will never change"

"That's where you get into trouble"

"He's worth the trouble"

Desperate for changing  
Starving for truth  
I'm closer to where I started  
Chasing after you  
I'm falling even more in love with you  
Letting go of all I've held onto  
I'm standing here until you make me move  
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

Forgetting all I'm lacking  
Completely incomplete  
I'll take your invitation  
You take all of me now...

I'm falling even more in love with you  
Letting go of all I've held onto  
I'm standing here until you make me move  
I'm hanging by a moment here with you  
I'm living for the only thing I know  
I'm running and not quite sure where to go  
And I don't know what I'm diving into  
Just hanging by a moment here with you

There's nothing else to lose  
There's nothing else to find  
There's nothing in the world  
That can change my mind  
There is nothing else

Jack looked down letting out a quiet laugh; he looked up at her with a small smile nodding "Good luck"

_(Later)_

Tony laid back into the soft mattress panting "you" he panted "are getting _really _good at this"

She smiled over at him. His eyes ran across her body and he gathered her up in his arms holding her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Michelle have I ever told you that you're the love of my life and I would give anything to be in your arms?" he smiled.

She rolled on top of him and kissed him tenderly "You just did"


	72. Chapter 72 Whenever You Call

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Mariah Carey_)

~ Chapter 72 ~

"Anthony Almeida I will not tell you again" Michelle said sternly into the phone.

"Ugh…Anthony? You know I don't like that name…" he said complaining with a smile as he stood in the garage.

"That's the point, I'm trying to get your attention" she rubbed her forehead.

"You have no idea how much of my attention is dedicated to you" he tried smoothly.

"You're adorable, but you're also sick… so get back into bed" she said shaking her head with a smile.

"It'll only take a half an hour, don't worry I'm feeling better"

"I checked your temperature when I left for work, you are far from fine" she said with worry "After last night you're lucky I haven't taken you to the hospital"

"How is mowing the lawn going to make me sicker? I could use the fresh air" he smiled then looked out at the front yard "plus the lawn really needs mowing."

"Open a window, get back in bed, and I will hire a landscaping company"

"You don't have to do that" he smiled at her protectiveness.

"Baby, we're barely home enough to enjoy our lawn… we don't have time to keep up with it too"

"You're right," he said.

"Now will you please relax?" she asked hopefully "I've been so worried about you, please"

"Ok" he smiled "I'll go watch a movie on the couch"

"Thank you honey" she sighed "Keep drinking the water and don't forget-"

"Ok ok ok" he chuckled "Got it, I'll relax"

"Thank you" she smiled and quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening "I love you"

"I love you too, I'll see you later" he said plopping himself down onto the couch.

"Ok" she said hanging up. She looked down at the phone and shook her head 'mowing the lawn with 103 degree fever… men sometimes…'

"Michelle" Chloe said.

"Yea?" she asked.

"Chappelle's on line two and there's a director's conference call he needs you to sit in on," she said.

"Alright set it up in Tony's office, I'll take it up there" she said. Chloe hurried away and Michelle picked up the phone "Dessler"

"Michelle it's Ryan, give me an update on the progress of the new security software"

"It's going better than expected, Chloe and Adam will probably finish it by tomorrow"

"Good to hear, will Tony be back tomorrow?"

"No, but hopefully by Friday"

Ryan sighed "Alright fine, but you'll be here correct?"

"Yes, I'll be here"

_(Later)_

The day was almost over "Michelle I'm almost ready to close up for the day anything else you need?" Kim asked.

"Yea just resave your logs to the other server"

"Crap, I forgot" she said.

Michelle gave her a small smile "It's all right you'll get used to it," then her phone rang.

"Dessler"

"Hello agent Dessler"

"Who is this?" she asked.

"All you need to know is that I have 4 elementary schools under my control and I will start killing people if you don't listen to everything I say..."

_(A few minutes later)_

"What do we have from the phone call?"

"We think this is the cell that spiked in activity last night, one of the science teachers that escaped was able to describe on of the hostiles and we have a name"

"Ross Laredo"

"Alright well we are out of time. Does he have any family?" Jack asked.

"Wife's dead but he has a son" Chloe read.

"Get the address uploaded to my PDA I'm going now" he said rushing off.

"Cross reference his name with all our databases find out everything there is to know about him" Micelle ordered "This is priority one. Let's move!"

_(Two hours later)_

Michelle's phone rang "Dessler"

"Michelle its Ryan... I just got a call from LAPD...they found a boy beaten to a pulp by an agent he described as looking just like Jack Bauer... did you know about this?"

"Yes... we needed information which he was withholding...children will start dying in less than an hour-"

"He was beaten to a pulp... he's not a criminal his dad is"

"We needed the information to save the people in those schools"

"You've gone too far! Now I have a mess to clean up...and this is not the only report I've gotten... homeland is not happy and I have to answer for all the messes your agency is making legally... I can't have an agency going rogue...this is not a game! FBI will take over and end your investigation if I get one more ounce of crap"

"Fine"

_(An hour later)_

"All right CTU we are a go" Jack whispered over the comm. as Michelle listened closely to the movement of the teams as they converged on the building.

A few minutes later Michelle heard "Agent Dessler this is FBI, pull your teams out now!" A woman's voice said over her Comm. as Michelle watched FBI and SWAT vehicles surround the CTU teams that were waiting outside while the others ran inside.

"Excuse me?" Michelle snapped "That is impossible we are-"

"Michelle this is Ryan Chappelle we are ordering you to pull your men out now!" Ryan yelled.

Michelle closed her eyes for a second in frustration "All CTU teams pull back" she said reluctantly.

"Agent Dessler is this an order to abort?"

"Affirmative," she answered "All teams… abort"

"Copy that," they said as she heard the order be passed along.

She slammed her headpiece down and spun around "Keep me updated," she said charging up to Tony's office.

She dialed the home phone "Michelle?" Tony said sounding like he had just woken up.

"Tony they cut us off" she said sad and angry with frustration.

"What?" he said sitting up "Who?"

"FBI" she said.

"Cut us off?"

"We were in the middle of an active investigation and they just had me pull all our teams out… they're taking us out"

"What?" he said with anger "Who the hell do think they are?!" he said "Is Division on board with this?"

"Yes, and Homeland" she said with her head in her hands.

"So that's it? They're side-lining us?" he asked.

"I've been instructed to resume every-day maintenance and cell chatter scanning until the threat has passed… they will _deal_ with us then," she said. "Tony this threat is real… so many people are about to die… they aren't equipped to deal with this, they have no idea what they are getting into"

"So we need to get involved whether they like it or not"

"But if we start anything, they'll send someone here to take me out and lock down CTU"

"They don't have to know"

"But they will, look…. They fired warning shots, they warned me a couple times, but I continued anyway" she said "And _I_ did not tell them"

"Someone's talking," he concluded.

"And not only that but they are making it sound like we are doing extreme things, which is not true, we've broken a few minor laws, but the things they are saying… are terrible"

"Alright Sweetheart, I'm on my way… start making a list of people we can undoubtedly trust"

"Ok" she said slowly hanging up and sighing. She didn't know what she'd do without him, but she felt stronger now. His words and energy re-charged her, after talking to him she was ready to do this, whatever it took. She looked around the bullpen and knew together _they_ could do this.

_Love wandered inside  
Stronger than you  
Stronger than I  
And now that it has begun  
We cannot turn back  
We can only turn into one_

And I'm truly inspired  
Finding my soul  
There in your eyes  
And you  
Have opened my heart  
And lifted me inside  
By showing me yourself  
Undisguised

_And I will breathe for you each day  
Comfort you through all the pain  
Gently kiss your fears away  
You can turn to me and cry  
Always understand that I  
Give you all I have inside_

I won't ever be too far away to feel you  
And I won't hesitate at all  
Whenever you call  
And I'll always remember  
The part of you so tender  
I'll be the one to catch your fall  
Whenever you call

The phone rang next to her "Dessler"

"Michelle it's Jack, what the hell is going on?"

"Someone has to be leaking information"

"They are detaining me and my teams… Damn it! We were so close!"

"Where are they taking you?"

"Homeland… we're going into lockdown" he said "You need to get Tony on this Michelle or all those people will die"

"I've already called him, he's on his way," she said.

"Good…they're not gonna let me talk with you once we get there so this is up to you guys now"

"I understand," she said.

"I'll try to get us out of here as soon as I can, but I can't make any promises…they have SWAT all over us"

"Ok, thanks" she said hanging up.

'_We_ can do this' she reminded herself.

_(20 minutes later)_

A small group gathered in the situation room.

"You are all here because Michelle and I have deemed you trustworthy" he said glancing at Michelle "Look around... this is the core of CTU" he paused "Maybe FBI, Division, and Homeland think we can't handle this, but I don't _think…_ I _know_ we can," he said "Better than they can"

"This is why we are starting a covert operation, this operation will only include the people in this room for two reasons" Michelle said "Because to start, we need the other agencies to fully believe we have backed down, we will have everyone else in the building back on schedule with scanning frequencies and system maintenance… second, and more importantly we believe there is someone in this agency leaking information to the other agencies, information that while is partially true is dramatized and has given CTU a bad reputation"

"This is a strong agency that produces results and has saved this country many times" Tony said "I _will not_ let anyone diminish its honor with gossip between agencies"

Michelle spoke again "Tony and I will get to the bottom of this and find out who has been leaking this bad information and see to their punishment, but right now we have a more important problem to deal with and we need your help"

"But being cut off from the other agencies not only cuts our resources, but also means that any leads they pick up we have to our keep hands off of" Adam said.

"Not totally" Michelle said "It gives us the advantage of being able to work up our own leads while they work the other leads up for us"

"But how will we know what they find? They've cut us out of the loop" Kim said.

"Chloe can monitor they're systems and keep and eye on what they're doing" Michelle answered.

"Yea but if they have any idea what they're doing they'll notice it" Chloe said.

"You can find a back door," Tony said "Their systems not as advanced as ours as far as security"

"But I'll be stealing a small amount of disk space, someone should pick that up, I would"

"You would, they won't… they are already in way over their head with this"

Chloe nodded "yea" a small proud smile formed.

"To all the people out there" Tony pointed to the bullpen "I came in re-assign everyone and I am going home… Michelle will handle them, she will assign them jobs and monitor their stations"

"Where will you be?" Kim asked and Michelle looked at the floor.

"I'm gonna find this man" he said, "I will be our only field hand because obviously our field unit is unavailable at this point"

"There's no way to pull Jack out of lock down?" Chloe asked.

"Not without raising a red flag," Michelle sighed "But if anyone thinks of something… we could really use him"

"Alright lets do this" Tony said.

_(A few minutes later)_

"I'll be on comm. the whole time you're out so you can feed me any information you find" Michelle said as Tony pulled a bullet-proof vest out of his locker and took off his shirt. "You sure you're up to this?"

"Yes"

"Cuz maybe we can pull in an auxiliary field agent or-"

"You know that'll take too long" he said.

"But-"

"Hey" he stopped her "That's enough" he smiled "you know this is the boy's locker room I could ask you to leave" he joked.

"Tony..." she said putting her hand on his chest sad and worried. "I really don't like this... I never like it but now... we're a rogue agency, you have no back-up, limited resources and you still have a fever I can feel it" she said running her hand across his neck "This is a bad idea"

"Maybe, but its the only way to save all those kids... so we're gonna do it," he sighed and ran his finger over her cheek "cuz its what we do"

She nodded "Please be careful... don't take any risks and drink the water bottles in your car"

"I will I will... I promise..." he said pulling her head close and kissing the top of it "I love you"

"I love _you,_" she said kissing him lightly.

_(3 hours later)_

"Alright Michelle am I clear?" Tony whispered over the comm.

"Wait... ok now" she said watching closely "you have a 25 second loop... last door on the right number 209"

"Key code?" he asked

"6754"

"Get down!" Tony said shooting the two men standing around Tim Pauler, the mastermind.

He had a two-way in his hand "Take one more step toward me and I'll give the order" he said with a smile.

Tony shot the two-way blowing it out of his hand. Pauler's smile vanished and Tony stepped toward him tossing him handcuffs "I give the orders now...cuff yourself" he touched his comm. "Michelle was Chloe able to catch the frequency?"

"Yup" she said.

"You know what to do," he told her.

"I do" she said, "Go ahead"

"We picked up the frequency... you use this two-way" he said holding up his two-way "...one wrong word and I shoot you" Tony pushed the button.

Pauler eyed Tony closely and leaned toward the two-way "All teams begin attack" he blurted out.

Tony smiled and said, "I thought so" he shot Pauler in the leg.

Pauler dropped to the floor screaming. "Ah! Its done! Why'd you shoot me? Ah!"

"No its _not_...that was just a test... ok Michelle" he said then pulled Pauler off the floor "Lets try that again" he said and pushed the button.

"All teams..." he panted with defeat "abort...get out of there quick" he said slumping to the floor.

"Ok Michelle take that recording and have Chloe transmit it on the _real_ frequency"

She smiled "Ok, you bringing him in?"

"Nah, I'm gonna clean him up and deliver him to the bureau"

_(20 minutes later)_

"Tony what the hell are you doing here?" Ryan spun around as he stood next to the agent in charge of FBI "I thought you were sick? And who the hell is this?"

"I _am_ sick, I'm here to deliver to you a gift from CTU" Tony pulled Pauler by the arm "recognize this guy?"

Ryan and the FBI director shook their heads hesitantly.

Tony let out a laugh "His name's Tim Pauler... here's your terrorist mastermind" he said pushing him to Ryan "Found him, picked him up, and already had him call off the attacks... his men are fleeing... think you can handle it from here?"

Ryan shook his head in confusion "How did you-"

"My agency gets results... my agency _save lives_... what are _you_ doing?" The room was silent, and at that Tony left.

_(Later)_

"Open" Michelle instructed.

Tony shook his head "that stuffs nasty"

Michelle sighed, "This will reduce the fever and ease the nausea," she said trying to give him the medicine.

"I'll ride it out"

"Don't be a baby" she smiled.

"I'm not a baby, I'm tough" he smiled "Did you see me today?" he said taking the medicine.

"Yea I saw you," she said putting the medicine back in the fridge.

"I led a covert operation for a rogue agency against 3 other agencies to take down a terrorist and save thousands of people" he snickered and shook his head "and you wouldn't let me mow the lawn"


	73. Chapter 73 Forever

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by Chris Brown)

~ Chapter 73 ~

Tony felt the bed shift, but she was still wrapped securely in his arms and as he listened he noticed Michelle's breathing was still slow and deep. He felt a small weight on his leg, then his hip. He opened his eyes to see Garren standing on him staring at him. "Garren off the bed!"

Michelle took a deep breath as she woke up. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes just a little and smiled at what she saw. She stuck her hands out into the air and Garren crawled over and laid down on her chest began licking her on the nose "Hey Gar-Gar… who's a good dog?"

Tony groaned, "Good dogs sleep in their own beds"

"But its his birthday… he's one year old today" Michelle cooed "yes you are… yes you are"

Tony rolled his eyes and rolled onto his back rubbing his eyes. "Today is... wow... September 4th... can't believe it's been a year" he looked over at her.

"Yea" she said sadly. She looked down at Garren with his head resting on her chest and smiled "You want us to sing Happy Birthday to you?" she asked and Garren picked his head up.

"Oh no... Forget it!" Tony groaned, "I am NOT singing..." Michelle giggled and he grumbled, "I don't sing"

"Liar!" Michelle laughed as Garren climbed off and walked away "I've _heard_ you sing" she said crawling over and laying on top of him.

He smiled "..._ok_ your right" he chuckled "...but I don't sing for anyone but you" he kissed her "especially not dogs"

"But you'll sing to _me_?" she asked smiling as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I don't think I'm a good singer but yea..." he chuckled "I'll sing to you"

"Ok…" she smiled resting her forehead on his "Go ahead"

"I don't know what to sing… umm… we heard this one yesterday on the radio" he smiled and started in a quiet voice "_Just you… and me…__ moving at the speed of light into eternity…_" she smiled brightly "_Tonight is the night you'll join me in the middle of ecstasy_" he smiled as he continued  
"_Feel the melody in the rhythm of the music around you, around you  
Ima take ya there, Ima take ya there  
So don't be scared, I'm right here baby  
We can go anywhere, go anywhere  
But first it's your chance, So take my hand come with me_

It's like I've waited my whole life for this one night  
It's gonna be me you and the dance floor  
'cause we've only got one night  
Double your pleasure  
Double your fun 

_And dance forever_

Feels like we're on another level  
Feels like our loves intertwined,  
We can be two rebels breaking the rules  
me and you, you and I  
All you got to do is watch me  
Look what I can do with my feet  
Baby feel the beat inside,  
I'm driving you can take the front seat  
Just need you to trust me

It's a long way down,  
We're so high off the ground,  
Sending for an angel to bring me your heart  
Girl, where did you come from?  
Got me so undone,  
Gazing in your eyes got me singing what a beautiful lady  
No "if"s, "and"s or "maybe"s…" he slowed down "I can't remember the next part…umm" he thought

She smiled "_I'm releasing my heart and it's feeling amazing…There's no one else that matters_"

He continued, "_You_ _love me and I won't let you fall girl… Let you fall girl oh_" she smiled and kissed him tenderly.

"That was beautiful" she smiled "I love you"

"I love you too"

_(An hour later)_

"You ready?" he said as he turned the car off and looked over at Michelle.

She was looking down at her feet.

"If you want we can come back after work so you don't have to-"

"No" she shook her head. She looked up straight ahead "I want to do this"

He nodded and watched her, she still wasn't moving. He got out of the car and went around to her side and opened her door. She looked up at him with sorrow in her eyes. He gave her a small smile and held out his hand "Come on"

She took his hand and they walked to the grave hand in hand. When they reached the grave he noticed her grip tighten on his hand. She looked at the name etched into the stone 'George Mason' she let go of Tony's hand and crouched down carefully placing the flowers she had in front of the stone. "Thank you so much" she whispered. She took one flower out of the bouquet and stood up with a tear streaming down her face. She turned and handed Tony the flower "for Paula" she explained.

Tony had been completely composed before he saw the tear and heard her small and weak voice. He felt a sting in his eyes as they became glassy. He blinked the tears away and wrapped an arm around her kissing her on the side of the head. She looked at the grave once more before heading toward Paula's grave "He was a good man" she mumbled as they walked.

Tony nodded "One of the best I've ever known"

_(20 minutes later)_

"How do I look?" Michelle said turning away from the visor mirror look at Tony.

He looked over at her and chuckled "You look beautiful" he smiled.

She smiled "I mean my make-up" she said examining her eyes in the mirror.

"I think you don't need it, but to answer your question yes...it looks good"

"I just don't want anyone to ask what's wrong or anything"

"It's a sad day...most of them should be aware of that"

She sat back in her chair and looked out the window, then a smile spread across her face "It's not all sad"

He smiled over at her and took her hand "one year"

He stopped at a red light and leaned over to kiss her softly "One year with my favorite person in the world" she smiled.

He flashed a smile over at her as he continued to drive "one amazing year"

_(Later)_

"Can I have everyone's attention" Tony said from the top of the stairs in front of his office "As you may know exactly one year ago on this day a great tragedy occurred in the building. Many great people died so I would like to have a moment of silence in their honor"

Michelle's eyes smiled softly up at him.

After a minute Tony spoke "thank you" he said walking down the stairs and waving Michelle over. "Com'ere" he said leading her into a dimly-lit hallway on the other side of the situation room. "You remember this spot?" he asked stopping halfway down the hall "There used to be a staircase right there and tech two was right down there...that's where you were supposedly going"

She smiled "I do remember"

"You weren't going to tech 2"

"I wasn't" she smiled "I was upset"

"You were scared," he said stroking the side of her face.

"I felt alone" she said "Until..." she smiled as he leaned toward her but she stopped him "If I remember correctly...I started it"

"I'm sorry," he said with a smile.

She smiled "and that's my line" she said kissing him softly. After a minute she pulled back slowly.

"Now its my turn" he smiled kissing her.

A minute later they pulled back "Now lets get outta here before we get caught" they smiled.

_(45 minutes later)_

Tony gazed down at Michelle, for some reason he felt so far away from her and missed her. His phone rang "Almeida"

"Tony the board of Directors just passed through security," the woman said.

"Thanks" Tony said hurrying down the stairs to Michelle's station "The board's here" he said.

She spun around and walked by his side "I thought they weren't coming until next week?"

Tony sighed as the walked through the doors and muttered "surprise." He shook Brad Hammond's hand "Hey Mr. Hammond this is a surprise"

Michelle spotted Carrie with a binder walking up next to him. Brad spoke "We like to keep you on your toes... Ryan is right behind us...should be here in a minute and this is Carrie Turner"

"We've met" Carrie told Brad with a smile "I used to work here" she shook Michelle's hand and noticed the ring. Her eyes darted to Tony's hand. She stopped "Wow" she said in surprise "You're married"

There was an awkward silence until Ryan walked up "We ready to start?" he asked.

"Yes" Brad said, "We were just congratulating Tony and Michelle"

"On what?" Ryan asked.

"Are you aware they are married?"

"Yes I _am_" Ryan said defensively "It's been cleared, it hasn't caused any problems... now can we move on to the inspection?"

"Please" Brad said slightly annoyed.

Ryan began rattling off all the changes to the building structurally and equipment and any problems that have been reported and Tony and Michelle followed answering any questions Brad had. Michelle noticed Carrie glancing down at her ring throughout the tour and couldn't help but smile.

It had been an hour and it was getting really boring "...We've hired 23 new people..." Ryan continued as they walked toward the bullpen Tony swung his arm so his hand would brush Michelle's and when it did she smiled causing him to smile too.

They glanced at each other and smiled quickly looking away as Carrie looked back at them. Tony's phone rang "Excuse me" he said to Ryan as he walked away from the group. Michelle watched him go wondering who it was.

Carrie waited until Ryan and Brad were out of earshot "So you guys still making out in dark corners?" she asked in a spiteful tone.

Michelle smiled slightly at the memory and said, "Didn't know you cared so much"

"I don't," she said defensively "I just can't believe how foolish you've become"

"That sounds like jealousy" Michelle retorted with a small smile.

"Don't kid yourself," she said "Its quite the opposite"

"Right" she said

"Michelle?" Ryan called when he got to the door of Tech. Michelle walked to them and entered the key code.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Almeida"

"Tony its Jack I need you to do something for me"

"Sure"

"I can't explain right now, but is Kim still at CTU?"

"Yea" he said.

"I'm doing some undercover work on the Yomar cell and it could get messy so we need to keep it under the radar after the problems with DOD and Homeland lately…so I'm going in alone, it shouldn't be too big of a deal, but it could get messy… I need you and Michelle to take Kim in for the weekend… these people are known for torturing innocents and Kim has a knack for getting kidnapped"

"Sure, just call me if you need back-up"

"Alright thanks"

Tony returned to Michelle's side and said in a low tone "We're gonna have a house guest this weekend"

Michelle shot him a questioning look "Who?" she mouthed as she pretending to listen to Ryan.

He suppressed his smile "Kim Bauer"

She said nothing but the look in her eyes said 'Oh great, this should be interesting'

_(An hour later)_

Ryan had finally left and Tony and Michelle were ready to head home. Michelle walked up to Kim's desk and whispered to her "You need to come with me"

"Why?" Kim said confused "Just trust me, get your stuff"

_(20 minutes later)_

"Did he say when he'd be back?" Kim asked from the back seat of Tony's SUV.

"He asked us to watch over you for the weekend" Tony said as he drove.

Kim looked out the window worried about her dad. She looked up at Tony and Michelle who were holding hands. She had only seen them show any sort of affection toward each other at their wedding, but you could always tell …no matter how professional they were, you could always tell they were connected, like they were in sync. "Thanks guys"

Michelle turned around and smiled "You are always welcome at our house"

They pulled up to the house "Whoah, this is your house?!" Kim said looking up at the big inviting house with the sparkling waves in the background.

"Yup" Tony said as the SUV rolled into the garage "Home sweet home"

(Later)

"Wow Tony that was _really_ good" Kim said, "I never knew you could cook"

Tony was leaning back against the counter watching Michelle "Someone in this house has to" he said with a smile as Michelle scrubbed a dish, she splashed some soapy water at him and he laughed.

"Watch it," she warned shaking a soapy wooden spoon at him with a smile. She turned her head to Kim "I don't cook"

"Yea cause we like our house" Tony laughed.

"That's it" Michelle took the sink hose and squirted Tony until he ran out of the kitchen then went back to washing the dishes.

Kim laughed, "Is this the way you guys always are?"

Michelle smiled and nodded "At home yea…Tony Almeida… don't.. you… dare" she said staring at something behind Kim.

Tony was standing in the doorway with an orange water gun… a big one. Kim started laughing at Tony's serious face. "Step away from the sink"

Michelle eyed him closely and picked up the hose.

Tony jumped and held out the gun further "I'm not kidding Michelle! Put it down!"

"Mine will never run out" Michelle smiled "Lower your weapon"

Tony laughed as he put his hands in the air and slowly put down the gun "I'm lowering my weapon"

"Kick it away" she instructed laughing with him.

He did as he was told "Be merciful, remember who feeds you," he said with his hands on his head.

Michelle picked up the water gun and squirted him "You are so dramatic"

All three of them laughed and Tony wrapped his arms around Michelle kissing her neck "You're just lucky I didn't get the garden hose"

"You guys are adorable" Kim said laughing.

"Ugh" Tony sighed "Why? Why do you people call me adorable? Don't you understand for men it's not a compliment?" he shook his head "They don't think I'm _adorable_ at CTU do they?" he whined.

"No" Kim laughed "Half of them think you make the perfect couple, the ones that went to your wedding and the others don't seem to really care much as long as you don't favor Michelle"

"I expected more resistance than that" Michelle said, "I expect at least a few people to be pissed"

"Not that I've heard" Kim said, "People like you guys, a lot of them admire you"

Tony smiled "Well, what's not to like?"

Michelle rolled her eyes and pushed him toward the stairs "I'll show you to your room" she smiled at Kim.

_(30 minutes later)_

"Goodnight Michelle" Kim said closing the door to her room. Everything in their house smelled fresh and nice. The bed was soft and the room was nice. She really like hanging out with them, they were fun to be around, but she was a little afraid of the people they were protecting her from and she hoped her dad was ok.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle lay in bed staring at the ceiling in thought as Tony brushed his teeth. He finished and crawled in bed next to her. "Whatcha thinking about?" he asked pulling her into his embrace.

"Where I was one year ago" she said quietly "I had a nightmare… on this night last year, I had the worst nightmare I've ever had"

"I remember," he said kissing her forehead "You called me all shaken up and I came to get you"

She smiled "that's the first night we slept together, ever since that night I can't sleep without you" she smiled

He pulled her in closer "You don't have to" he said turning off the light and nuzzling his head into her neck.

"It's been a great year" she whispered.

He smiled "And it keeps getting better"


	74. Chapter 74 Chasing Cars

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Snow Patrol_)

~ Chapter 74 ~

Kim opened her eyes and smiled at the scents that met her nose. First was the fresh sheets that smells nice like the rest of the house. Next was the smell of pancakes and the third was coffee. This smell lured her out of bed and down the hall. The walls were sprinkled with pictures. Kim stopped at one at the top of the stairs, it was adorable. The picture was taken at the beach. Michelle was laying on her back on a blue towel with her head on its side smiling at the camera with Tony who was hovering above her kissing the side of her face.

"_Say you love me," he whispered in her ear as he hovered above her and the sun pounded down on his back._

"_Why?" she giggled looking up at him._

"_Say it" he nudged_

"_You know I do" she touched his face._

"_I wanna hear you say it"_

_She giggled "Fine 'you love me'"_

"_Michelle" he laughed tickling her._

_She squirmed as she laughed, "Ok ok I love you"_

"_What?" he asked putting his ear closer to her _

"_I love you!"_

"_You what?"_

"_I love you ok?"_

"_Say it like you mean it"_

_Tony's mom walked over with her camera "Here Michelle I wanna get a picture"_

"_I always mean it," she said catching her breath "I'm in love with you Tony Almeida"_

"_Michelle look over here" Bella called._

"_Awww that's so nice" he smiled and Michelle looked over toward the camera as Tony kissed the side of her face._

_FLASH_

Kim smiled and moved to the next picture of what looked like Michelle as a little girl with her brother at a fair. The next picture was Tony Michelle and Garren at the park. Michelle had her arms wrapped around Tony who was kneeling next to Garren who had a ball in his mouth.

Next was a picture of Tony and his dad at a Cubs game, Tony looked about 10. Next was one of Michelle and Gina at the wedding.

_FLASH _

"_You look so beautiful" Michelle's friend said taking a picture _

_"This doesn't feel real," Michelle said as she looked in the mirror while Gina fixed her veil._

_Gina smiled shaking her head "Why?"_

_"There's no gravity...nothing pulling me down...like I'm floating"_

_"I think you're crazy"_

_"There's always something that's not perfect…all the time…the reality of the situation…. But right now I feel like there is nothing at all that's…." she sighed trying to explain herself "Look with my job I know that this world is full of evil people doing terrible things, I know that, but right now… it doesn't bother me… there's no worry, no pain, no sadness, no gravity… nothing but happiness"_

_Gina smiled and shook her head with a laugh "Yea… now let's get you down that aisle before you float away"_

Kim reached the bottom of the stairs where she heard laughing. When she walked down the hall she could see Tony wrestling with Garren in the living room and Michelle leaning against the couch laughing at them. Garren jumped on Tony's back putting his big paw on top of Tony's head. Tony looked up "Good Morning" he smiled as the dog licked his ear.

Michelle turned to her "Hey Kim, help yourself to breakfast and coffee"

"Thanks"

"Alright baby" Tony sighed as he stood up "I gotta get goin" he took a final sip of his coffee and handed it to her.

"You have to go to work?" Kim asked

"Yea" Tony answered "But Michelle's got the day off, so you can hang out here with her... it's safer that way... and my sister's coming over so you can all hang out… or whatever it is you do"

Michelle smiled and looked up at Tony "Don't forget your wallet"

He hurried off to the bedroom to get it. When he came back he cupped her face and pulled it in for a sweet gentle kiss "I love you" he smiled "Be careful, call me for anything" he stroked her face.

She pulled his hands down and took them in hers "I will... promise me the same"

He smiled "Ok I promise... I'll see ya later" he said heading for the door.

She followed him letting his hands go "Ok love you" she smiled closing the door as he got into the car and pulled away.

_(Later)_

"So they're collecting the dessert plates and getting ready to finish up the reception and who's missing?" Gina smiled "the bride and groom"

Kim smiled as Gina told the story and Michelle quickly defended herself "I had to go to the bathroom"

Gina smiled and nodded her head "Yea?" she laughed "And you elected Tony to help you?"

Michelle blushed and shook her head "and your point is?"

"You guys couldn't even make it through the reception"

"We've demonstrated an incredible amount of self-control, I am surprised you would accuse us so easily after watching us through the past year" Michelle answered with a smile as her phone beeped and she pulled it out to read the message.

"Yet with all that self control you still can't explain where you were," she giggled with Kim.

The message said 'We have an active code, I have to go into the field but it's just to bring a non-hostile witness in, while the field teams work up other leads'

Michelle sighed, she didn't like him going into the field, especially when she wasn't there to back him up on Comm. 'Please be careful and keep in touch... I can't wait to see you' she typed.

"Everything ok?" Gina asked.

Michelle paused as she received another message 'Alright baby, I'll talk to you soon'

She looked up "Yea, its fine" she lowered her voice "I hope"

_(Later)_

Tony swung his SUV into the parking lot of the apartment building. He noted the structure was 4 floors high. He touched the screen on the computer built in to his car. The file of the witness came up. 'Kristen Miller' he read 'Age 22… 'A' student… works as a waitress in a local restaurant… no criminal record' he sighed "Alright" he muttered as he tucked his gun away and headed into the building. They had told her to stay in her apartment and she was willing to cooperate. As Tony approached the front desk he was thrown to the right as he heard an explosion come from the left side of the building. He pulled himself off the ground, he could barely see as the smoke ad dust surrounded him. He coughed and walked toward the left side trying to find the stairs. He could hear people screaming, "FIRE!" as the all came rushing down the stairs but he struggled up the stairs to the second floor. He opened the door and a ceiling tile fell in front of him burning "Kristen Miller!" he called covering his nose and mouth with his shirt carefully inching toward her room. She was their most promising lead and it was his fault she was even in this building. He had to find her.

As the number on the doors got closer to hers he heard sirens coming closer and closer. Tony was becoming weaker as he couldn't breath. Finally he found her door…it looked like the explosion had come from the room next to hers he inched over and tried to open the door but it was locked so he backed up and kicked it down "Kristen!?" he called. He could hear her crying and coughing but he couldn't tell where she was… he could barely see and the fires were burning all around him, "Kristen? Don't worry I'll help ya… Kristen? Where are you?" He began to cough more as he felt himself slipping getting weaker and weaker by the second "Kri…Kristen come out" he said completely out of breath and dizzy until he saw her reaching for him from across the room.

Someone grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him out of the room he spun around to see a big fire-fighter pulling him "Come with me sir"

"No!" Tony struggled, but his lack of air made him too weak to take the man down, as he so easily would have done normally "I have to save her!" he gasped and pulled out his gun but as he struggled a beam fell on him. Everything went dark.

Tony opened his eyes to see them loading him into an ambulance "Stop!" he felt a rush of adrenaline "Stop it right now!" he yelled. The paramedics stopped and looked at each other.

"Sir we need to get you to the hospital, we think you have a head injury"

"No! You will get me off right now! I am a federal agent in an active investigation! Un-strap me now!" he demanded.

They slowly did as he said, "Sir you need to rest and take this oxygen, you've inhaled a lot of-"

"Did they get the girl?" he asked gasping.

"A girl?" they asked.

"Her names Kristen Miller, 22 years old, brown hair, brown eyes, 5 foot 4" he said.

"No… no one with that description that I know of… not alive at least… now will you please let us-"

"NO!"

_(Later)_

Michelle sat with Kim and Gina out by the water. Kim and Gina were chatting, but Michelle wasn't paying attention. She kept opening her phone to check her messages…nothing… it had been hours since she'd heard from him and she was really worried. 'He said he'd call when he could'

"Staring at the phones not gonna make him call sooner" they laughed.

"I know I'm just really worried" she muttered.

"Why? Is he in danger?" Gina asked.

Michelle looked up at her then out at the water then back down to the phone "Not exactly… I just… I don't know"

Her phone lit up as it began to ring. She picked it up instantly "Tony?"

"No, Michelle its Chloe"

Michelle stood up "Chloe? What's the matter?"

"We need you to come to CTU… now"

"Why is everything ok? Where's Tony?" she said quickly.

"He's here, but Michelle he's freaking out… he was in some sort of explosion and ever since he came back-"

"EXPLOSION?!" Michelle's face dropped as she ran toward the house "Is he okay? What happened?"

"He's fine" Chloe said, "He's back here now, he wasn't badly injured but he's freaking out yelling at everyone"

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief "I'm on my way"

She spun around to the girls "Inside now" they ran following her inside.

"What's going on?" Gina said worried "Is he ok?"

Michelle was breathing heavily and she locked the door behind them taking a minute to breath as she held her forehead "He's alive… not badly hurt… at work… I have to go," she said rushing toward the garage then stopping dead in her tracks. She turned around "Lock _every_ single door in this house… I will arm _every_ alarm we have and monitor the house… you hear _any _noises _at all_, you run straight to me and Tony's room, it's the safest room in the house and call us… I'll be in touch" she said rushing out to her car, which lit up as she walked toward it… it roared to life speeding off down the road.

When Michelle reached CTU she rushed through the door and slowed to almost a stop when she heard his voice. His back was to the doors and she entered quietly. She could see his face was red with anger. "This is on you! Not _one_ person had eyes on that building! We have a responsibility to protect innocent people and we FAILED! She's dead!" as he yelled. Michelle walked up behind him and calmly put her hand on his shoulder. He shuttered at her touch, knowing instantly that it was her.

Words suddenly failed him. He felt like he had just been pulled back down to earth. He suddenly realized where he was and what he was doing. Anger no longer clouded his thoughts, he could see clearly. He stare dropped to the floor.

Michelle's voice sounded soft like an angel to everyone in the room in comparison to Tony's hoarse yelling "It's been a long day" she said gently but firmly "Anyone who is at or past 8 hours, call your replacement and get them in here… everyone checks in with me before they leave" she finished nudging Tony toward the stairs.

When they got into his office he went straight to the couch. She walked behind his desk and darkened the glass walls. He was staring down at his hands in defeat. She walked over and sat next to him. She looked over at him his eyes still straight down. He had a welt on his head that worried her and his skin still had traces of ash on in. She didn't know what to say so she reached over and took his hand. When she touched him his eyes met hers. The look in his eyes was heartbreaking, her face softened "Oh sweetheart" she said wrapping her arms around him.

He began to cry as she held him tightly "She was _right _there"

Her heart broke with his, she wanted to know what had happened, but didn't want to ask any questions.

"I could have saved her… she was right there… but I didn't fight hard enough… I let them take me…. I left it to them after I told her _I'd_ help her"

"Baby you didn't know" she said rubbing his head as he clung to her… this was exactly what she needed…she needed to feel him breathing after that scare.

"I should've…if I had been 5 minutes earlier-"

"You might have died in the explosion," she said with a shudder at the thought.

He looked up at her, he just remembered how worried she must have been "I'm sorry" he said starting to lose it again with his eyes squeezed shut to hold the tears back.

She pulled him close again "Its ok… I'm just happy you're ok"

"Can we go home Chelle?" he said sadly "I don't wanna be here right now"

She nodded "Of course" she stroked his face wiping a tear away and kissing him softly on the lips then the forehead "I'm just gonna go get the night shift started then we can go"

_(Later)_

The girls heard the garage door open. They looked out the window and saw Tony's SUV pulling into the driveway driven by Michelle with Tony in the passenger seat. A minute later Tony came through the garage door. His face was red and he looked like he had been in a train wreck, his eyes rested on the floor as he didn't even look up, he walked straight toward the stairs.

"Tony you ok?" Gina asked.

"What happened?" Kim asked gently.

Tony just kept walking. Michelle shook her head silently following him. She slowed to an almost stop and waited for him to disappear up the stairs "He's been through a lot" she said softly looking down at her hands "He's in a lot of pain"

Gina and Kim nodded "Sorry to hear that"

"Gina you staying?" Michelle asked.

"If that's ok," she said "Just figured I'd keep Kim company since you're probably gonna be with him"

Michelle nodded "Thank you" she sighed "I'm gonna arm all the outside, door and window alarms so tell me if you're gonna leave the house" she said "Good night"

"Good night" they said watching her disappear up the stairs.

She walked into the bedroom and dropped her stuff on her dresser. She walked over to the bed and took his hand leading him into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and turned back around and took off his shirt. He unbuttoned her pants and she took them off. Within a minute or two they were both in the shower in silence. She began to wash him and he pulled her close cupping her face. He smiled down at her "It's amazing"

She mirrored his smile "What?"

"I've had _such_ an awful day" he said sadly "I was hurt, angry, and out of my mind miserable… but standing here with you" he said stroking her face as water dripped off her earlobes "I can't help but smile"

She pulled him close and laid her head on his chest "You have no idea how nice it is to see you smile"

"I don't know what I'd do without you," he said putting his face in her neck.

Ten minutes later they climbed into bed and snuggled close under the warm blankets "I don't know what came over me today" he said pulling her close "I was just so angry at myself for letting her die and the anger made the situation seem so different like I was angry but I couldn't figure out how to make it stop so I was yelling, but then when you touched my shoulder… its like you reminded me who I was and suddenly I knew what I was doing was wrong… I just got lost in it I guess"

"You should have called me… I know you were angry, but baby that's why I'm here" she said "I'd rather you let it out with me, because I'm someone who will love you more than anyone else no matter how loud you yell or what you say"

"I'm just so glad it's over and I'm here with you... I love you so much Michelle"

"Love you too" she smiled snuggling closer to him "I feel like this is all I need, no food, no job, no money, nothing else…just to be here with you like this, like I could lay here with you for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy"

"That would be perfect" he said kissing her head.

_We'll do it all  
Everything  
On our own_

We don't need  
Anything  
Or anyone

I don't quite know  
How to say  
How I feel  
Those three words  
Are said too much  
They're not enough

I need your grace  
To remind me  
To find my own

All that I am  
All that I ever was  
Is here in your perfect eyes

_They're all I can see_

If I lay here  
If I just lay here  
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?


	75. Chapter 75 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Starship_)

It may seem like it's taking awhile to get these up, but that mostly because I'm doing a lot of writing for future chapters:)

Please review as always!

~ Chapter 75 ~

"Michelle!... Wake up Michelle!" Michelle felt herself being shaken. She lazily opened her eyes to Gina and Kim trying to wake her up.

"O- ok.... ok ok I'm up" she said pulling herself up to a seated position on the bed rubbing her eyes. She looked around on the bed "Where's Tony?" she asked sleepily.

"That's why we're here," Gina said sitting next to her "Last night he looked like he was severely beaten and upset and.... but now he's..."

Michelle remembered how upset he had been the day before from the explosion "Now he's what?" she said climbing off the bed cautiously.

"Come see for yourself" Gina said leading her down the stairs and through the kitchen to the big glass doors that looked over the back yard. Tony was on the other side of the yard in the bright morning sun with piles of wood around him and different tools spread across the yard.

"What did you do to him Michelle?" Gina joked, "Whatever it was worked like a charm"

Michelle scrunched her forehead "What the-" she muttered sliding the door open and heading toward him in her tank top and a pair of his boxer shorts. She could hear him singing to the radio as he worked which made her smile "Tony?"

He spun around with a big smile on his face "Hey baby! He said putting the saw down and heading over to her kissing her sweetly "Good morning" he smiled.

She was still confused "Good morning... " She said as he picked the saw back up "uh...whatcha doin?"

He smiled and pointed to the wood "Building a shed!"

She raised her eyebrows "A shed?" he nodded proudly "you know how to build a shed?"

"Well... not exactly..." he said looking around "but I got directions for the Internet... how hard could it be?"

Michelle was slightly worried "Uh..."

"Michelle!" she heard Gina call from the house "Someone's at the door... should I get it?"

"No... no let me get it" she said starting to walk back toward the house but then stopped and looked back "And you" she pointed a Tony and shook her head with a smile "Don't hurt yourself" she said running into the house to get the door. She took her gun out of the drawer and slowly opened the door keeping the gun hidden. It was Jack. She let him in and he smiled at her appearance.

"Bedhead and a gun... scary combination... I like it" he smiled.

She turned red slightly and smiled "I don't usually answer the door with a gun" she smiled putting the gun back.

He smiled "I can't thank you enough for keeping an eye on Kim" he said putting his arm around her "Just let me know if there's anything I can ever help you guys with"

Michelle smiled and glanced out the back door at Tony "What do you know about building sheds?"

Jack looked past her out the back door "What is he doing?"

"I think he's grieving"

Jack walked out the door "Hey" he said to get Tony's attention.

Tony turned around with a smile "Hey Jack"

"Need some help?"

_(Later)_

"That does _not_ look like a shed," Gina said as they stood by the door watching the men work.

Michelle shook her head "The walls aren't even vertical"

"They can save the world in less than a day but they can't construct a simple shed" Kim laughed.

They heard a cloud of curses as what looked like the roof caved in for the second time "This is not gonna end well" Michelle said turning away.

It was late that night when Jack, Tony, Michelle, and Gina finally finished the shed. Tony smiled up at it and wrapped his arms around Michelle "It looks great... thank you for your help baby" he said softly kissing her tenderly.

As he kissed her Gina pushed them into the shed and closed the door. "There you go... like love shack" she said as they all laughed.

_Let them say we're crazy.  
What do they know?  
Put your arms around me, baby, don't ever let go._

Tony and Michelle came out the shed "Thanks for your help Jack" Michelle said hugging him and Kim then she showed everyone to the door and they all left. Michelle turned around after closing the front door and to her surprise Tony wasn't behind her. She walked back into the kitchen and saw Tony staring at the shed. She walked up behind him and noticed he looked sad so she wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her head on his shoulder.

_I'm so glad I found you_

_I'm not gonna lose you_

_Whatever it takes to stay here with you.  
Take it to the good times, see it through the bad times.  
Whatever it takes is what I'm gonna do._

"She's still dead" he said, "I didn't accomplish anything... I felt like if I proved I could do this I'd feel better but it doesn't change anything"

"She's gonna be dead whether you continue to beat yourself up or not... so what's the point?" she said turning him around so he was facing her instead of the shed "You... are a good man" she said "And you deserve to be happy... so you've gotta let this go... you've gotta look at that shed and think of tools or Jack or today...or even a love shack..." she smiled "you've gotta look at that shed and feel good, because you built it and you deserve to be happy... you can't keep thinking about that girl" she said "Get it out of your system…just once and for all think it through and decide to let it go" she said holding his shoulders.

He looked down "she'd be dead if I never called her, she'd be dead if I had come earlier and she'd be dead if I got there later... I couldn't have known," he said thinking "If I could have saved her I would have… cause I really wanted to… but it happened… and I can't change that" He turned back to the shed and thought of the happy time he had that day building it with his friends and family. He smiled "you're right" he smiled kissing her.

"Better?" she asked taking his hand.

He smiled at her "Much better" he chuckled "now what do you say we test out the 'love shack'"

She shook her head "No way are you gonna get me to do anything in there… that thing could fall down at any minute" she giggled.

"If I was with you I probably wouldn't even notice"

_Let the world around us… just fall apart.  
Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart._

_(The next morning)_

"Tony..." Michelle called in a sleepy voice as she opened her eyes. She looked up at him, he was fast asleep. She looked over at the clock...they were supposed to be up 20 minutes ago. "Tony, we're late" she said shaking him "Tony!"

He didn't open his eyes "Shhhhhh" he hushed pulling her back in.

She smiled "Tony we're gonna be late" she giggled as he continued to 'shh' her.

"I don't wanna go to work today, I'm too tired"

"Baby we don't have a choice" she said kissing him then crawling out of bed.

"Come back... five more minutes"

_Oh, all that I need is you.  
All that I ever need.  
All that I want to do is hold you forever, forever and ever._

She laughed, "Maybe staying up til almost 4am making love wasn't my best idea"

"I completely disagree... now come back to bed"

"No" she laughed "We are gonna be so late" she grabbed his feet pulling him out of bed as he clutched their pillow.

"No..." he whined as she steered him toward the bathroom.

She smiled as she noticed he was still holding the pillow tightly "go shave I'm gonna get dressed"

He spun around and hit her with the pillow laughing knocking her down onto the bed.

She grabbed a pillow "Alright _now_ you're in for it"

_(30 minutes later)_

"Could you drive any slower?"

"I could," he said slowing down.

"We are _so_ late" she said getting more annoyed as he slowed down even more. She leaned forward and grabbed the wheel "Let me drive or we're never gonna get there"

"Excuse me for following traffic laws" he said smiling.

"If I were driving we'd already be there"

"Your driving scares me" he laughed, "You know the numbers on the signs aren't hints, or suggestions… they're the law… you can't double the number and do _that_ speed…"

"Fine, you can drive… and we might make it on time if you would get outta bed on time"

"Maybe I would be more motivated to get out of bed in the morning if we weren't going in to work with so many cranky people"

"Yea… but you can't _make _people be nice to each other"

"Yeah but it would be nice... I wonder how we could encourage it..."

"Well _we_ definitely set a good example of bonding with your co-workers" she laughed.

"I'm not looking for CTU to be some love nest" he chuckled "just want them to like each other to be able to work like a team"

"So do some team-bonding... have a party...Halloweens next week...have a Halloween party"

He smiled and nodded his head "Yeah team bonding"

_(Later)_

"Team bonding?" Chloe asked incredulously.

"Ya" Tony said "Like in high school if you were on a sports team-"

"I wasn't on a sports team" Chloe retorted.

"Well the team goes out and does stuff, has pool parties so the team can bond" he sighed "Look this agency is a team... or at least it should be... we are two separate units and we all have our separate departments but we are _one_ agency, _one_ team... I would like us to act like one... we put our _lives_ in he hands of field agents to protect us"

Jack spoke as he stood next to Tony "And as field agents we put our lives in _your_ hands when we go in on _your_ call and _your _information"

"I'd like us all to be able to get along and like each other as much as possible so we _can _trust each other with our lives and pull together when the moment comes... because it will, we are all on the same team" he paused and a half-smile appeared on his face. He glanced at Michelle then looked around at his audience "So uh... get a costume and be here Friday at 7pm"

_(That night)_

Michelle was looking out the window as Tony drove home "I wanna be something scary for Halloween"

"Be a chef...get a hat and spatula like you're gonna cook something" he chuckled "I know _I'll _run the other way!"

She smiled "Ha-ha so funny" she rolled her eyes "What are you being?"

"You'll see" he smiled

_(At the party)_

"You're a baseball player?" Chloe asked in her witch costume.

"Obviously" Tony said pointing to his outfit "Actually I'm a Cubs player" he smiled proudly

"They suck... that's not scary," she said with a frown.

"Oh yea?" he asked in annoyance "Ya think? Michelle get me my bat"

Michelle grabbed the bat and pulled it away from him "You're supposed to be _bonding_... I'll hold onto this"

Tony turned back to Chloe still slightly annoyed "You should thank her..." he said shaking his head "she just saved your life"

"Touchy touchy" Jack snickered as Tony walked away.

Kim laughed "He always gets teased about the Cubs... they should've done Beauty and the Beast... that would've been cute... his sister had the costumes all picked out but he refused" Kim looked over at them and smiled "But instead he's a baseball player and she's a vampires"

"Why aren't you dressed up Jack?" Chloe asked with a pout "Tony said it was mandatory."

"Tony's not my boss, I don't like dressing up" Jack said with a smile "But this was a good idea" he said looking around "We could all use so time to get to know each other without all the stress"

"Hey Jack I hope you're not goin trick-or-treating like that" Tony laughed.

"Very funny…nice costume" Jack smiled.

"Yea yea yea" Tony rolled his eyes "What do ya think?"

"Great party Tony, George would be proud," Jack said patting Tony on the back and walking toward the food table. Tony gazed over at Michelle who was standing next to him, he slipped his hand in hers and they locked eyes as he smiled at her "Thanks to you" he said softly.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her.

_Looking in your eyes, I see a paradise.  
This world that I found is too good to be true.  
Standing here beside you_

_I want so much to give you this love in my heart that I'm feeling for you_

_(Later that night)_

Michelle was finally out of her costume and into her pajamas. She came out of the bathroom to see Tony smiling in the mirror. Michelle laughed at Tony, still in his costume, "Would you take that thing _off _already?"

He spun around and picked her up tossing her into the air "Yeah… cuz I think I'm gonna score a home-run tonight" he smiled pulling her close.

"You think so huh?" she giggled.

"Oh yes" he smiled gently laying her down on the bed "You'll see I have quite a passion for the game… we might just have to go into over-time"

Michelle laughed "Your crazy" she said kissing him.

He slowed down "I'll admit it…" he smiled "I'm a little crazy"

"It's ok," she said holding his face with a soft smile "There's nothing you could reveal to me that would make me stop loving you"

"What if I told you my names not Tony Almeida? That I'm really undercover" he smiled.

"You'd always be Tony to me and I'd love you…but you'd have some explaining to do"

"What if I told you…" he thought

"There's really _nothing_" she smiled "I know your family, there's _no way_ you're gay, you're not a drug addict… and most importantly… you show me every day how much you love me… and that all I need to know"

"Yea… I can't think of anything you could tell me that would make me stop loving you either," he said kissing her softly.

"I don't even think there's anything you could do _now_, to make me stop loving you" she said thinking with a smile "You could literally bomb the entire earth and I'd still love you… I don't know where we'd live though… but I'd trust you had a good reason" she marveled "Wow… it's amazing... but I'm serious"

"I never knew it was possible to love someone this much" he said pulling her closer "When no matter what they do you'll love them"

"Me neither" she snuggled against him "It's so much stronger than anything I've ever seen... it's completely unstoppable and always growing stronger"

"Our love?" he smiled.

"Yea" she sighed with a smile

"Yea... its stronger than me" he said

She nodded "Stronger than both of us... it's always on my mind"

He thought "and it's a part of everything I do..."

"It's a _part _of me..." she added.

"A big part of me..." he said.

She locked eyes with him "A part I _can't_ live without..."

"The one part of me that will last forever and can withstand _anything_" he said stroking her face.

"God I love you," she said closing the gap between them as a tear slid down her cheek as she rolled on top of him.

He rolled them back over as he kissed her so she was beneath him... needing for her to feel the power of his love.

She felt it everywhere.

_And we can build this thing together, stand in stone forever, nothing's gonna stop us now.  
And if this world runs out of lovers we'll still have each other.  
Nothing's gonna stop us, nothing's gonna stop us now._


	76. Chapter 76 On the Way Down

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Ryan Cabrera_)

First of all I just wanna thank everyone for the reviews:) Thank you! I really love hearing your thought and suggestions! They mean a lot!!!! :)

~ Chapter 76 ~

_Michelle watched closely as the knife slid into the soft white cake and Tony's hand rested on top of hers. Everyone clapped and Tony kissed the side of her head and smiled "Looks yummy, I think we made a good choice" Before she knew it they handed her a plate with cake. _

_She gave Tony a warning look as he fed her the cake with a huge smile on his face. He smiled as she ate the cake and said "I love you" She smiled and picked up a piece for him smiling mischievously as everyone encouraged her to smash it in his face. She slowly slid the cake into his mouth and smiled and quietly dipped her finger in the icing of the remaining cake. _

_She smiled and lightly touched his nose leaving a little icing as she whispered to him " I love you too baby." Everyone applauded and he kissed her with a _chuckle making sure the icing got on her nose too.

_When they broke apart everyone was receiving their cake and talking happily. As Michelle finished cleaning Tony's nose Tina, an analyst from CTU walked over to Michelle and gave her a hug "Hey you!"_

_"Hey" Michelle smiled hugging her._

"_You look gorgeous! Congratulations!" she smiled._

"_Thank you" Michelle blushed._

"_It's so nice to you guys laughing and having fun, I've never seen you like this before. At CTU you guys are always so professional and serious" she laughed._

_Michelle giggled "Trust me that's just at work, at home very rarely are we professional and serious"_

"Stop right there! Put your hands where I can see them!" he warned.

She stuck her hands up into the air instinctively "I was hungry" she explained.

"Step away from the microwave" he ordered.

She rolled her eyes and smiled "Its just left-over Chinese food"

He smiled "And the handle is just made of metal which will just catch on fire and just burn our house down" he said scooping the food onto a plate and handing it to her with a smile giving her a kiss on the forehead.

She shook her head and put the plate in the microwave as the phone rang. She pushed the button and took the house phone off the wall.

"Hello?"

"Hi Ms. Dessler, sorry to call you at home, but we couldn't get you on your cell and we need you to come in"

Michelle pulled the food out when it finished "Why? What's going on?"

"We just got a call from the cell that spiked last night and we need you or Tony to come in and assess it"

She sighed quietly "Yea alright, we'll be there" she said hanging up and putting plate down "Tony" she called

"Already got our coats," he sighed with a tired smile holding hers up so she could stick her arms in.

She beamed up at him as he fixed her coat before pulling his out.

"What?" he chuckled watching her closely.

She smiled and shook her head "Nothing"

He rolled his eyes and smiled "Yea right" as they went into the garage and got into the Denali.

The garage opened as he buckled his seatbelt and noticed she was still smiling at him causing him to chuckle and shake his head as he took her hand and began to back the car out.

"What _is_ it Michelle?" he asked again.

She looked out the window with a smile then returned her gaze to him "I didn't expect it to be this much fun" she laughed, "I was just always told the cuteness would wear off... the romance would fade... I never expected marriage to be this perfect"

He smiled "Me too" he cupped her face with one hand "But then again I never expected to meet someone as perfect as you"

_(3 hours later)_

"What do we have?" Tony asked as he and Michelle walked into the situation room. Chloe stood

"A man in his late 30's goes by the name of Tareem called us half an hour ago informing us that there is a bomb in L.A. he sent us a picture of it in a warehouse with yesterday's newspaper next to it to prove he has it. He is planning on setting it off today in the city"

"Why did he call us?" Tony asked.

"He's willing to give us the location of the bomb if we give him his son, his mother has a restraining order against him and they are in the witness protection program which is why he came to us… he wants our decision in two hours"

_(90 minutes later)_

"Agent Dessler we're ready to move" a man said to Michelle.

Mikey grabbed her hand as she began to walk. She looked down and he looked a little scared but he smiled nervously up at her.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yup" he said, "I'm really brave"

She smiled with a little sadness "Ok, good" she said opening the door to the SUV

"Your name is Dessler?" he asked innocently as Michelle buckled his seatbelt.

"No" she smiled "That used to be my last name... my name is Michelle"

"How come they don't say Agent Michelle?"

Michelle chuckled "You can call me Agent Michelle if you want" she smiled.

"Okay Agent Michelle" he smiled.

_(Later)_

Chloe hurried up behind Tony and tapped his shoulder "We have Tareem's partner in Holding 2... Jack said he wouldn't talk in the field, he wants immunity which we are getting now but-" Tony started toward the holding room, Chloe followed him "the president hasn't signed it yet... we should have the documents in the next 15 minutes"

"If this bomb goes off thousands of people, possibly including all of _us_... will die, I don't have time for this crap" the door buzzed and flew open as Tony walked through the door grabbing the man by the neck and throwing him against the wall "Where is Tareem going?! After he makes this trade, where's he going?!" he yelled as the man tried to pull Tony's hands off his neck.

"Where's my deal?" he choked.

Tony looked at him in disgust "Trust me you'll get it" he threw him down "so start talking"

The man gasped and looked up at Tony with anger "He's leaving the city"

Tony slammed his fist down on the table "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

"I didn't tell him where I was going and he didn't tell me where he was going or where he was sending his son... it was for protection... in case this happened"

"And the bombs gonna go off once he's safely out of the city?"

The man nodded.

"That gives us less than 10 minutes to find and disarm the bomb"

The man smiled "Good luck"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Agent Michelle is my daddy a bad man?" Mikey looked up at Michelle.

Michelle sighed, "He's trying to do some bad things, but we're trying to stop him"

Mikey looked down "What if my daddy hurts me when I go with him... what if he's mean?"

"I _will not_ let him hurt you," she said squeezing his shoulder "I promise"

_(10 minutes later)_

Michelle stood in front of the SUV with two other men as two vans approached "Tony I have a visual on 2 vans approaching from the North"

"According to Tareem's partner Mikey is being sent somewhere different from Tareem for protection"

"So they're leaving in separate vehicles?"

"That's what we've been told"

Michelle nodded "Then we are gonna need a second team to follow the van with Mikey"

"I have a team on standby a few blocks away for that purpose"

"Alright good"

_(20 minutes later)_

Time slowed down to a near halt as Michelle pulled the wheel to the right slamming the CTU SUV into the side of the van. As the two vehicles met she saw Mikey's little head in the back seat and she felt her heart stop.

A few seconds later she was fighting back the airbag to climb out of the SUV and once she was free she hurried toward the van, but as she got closer to where the van landed it exploded. She stumbled backward watching the flames rise into the air in horror. Tareem had lied. They were in the same car. Mikey was gone.

_(30 minutes later)_

Michelle entered CTU in silence heading straight for the room where they were holding Mikey's mom Karen. She punched in the code and headed into the room. Karen spun around "Where's my baby?"

Michelle's heart sank and she told Karen what happened.

_(10 minutes later)_

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Chappelle said as Tony came into the room and they watched through the window as the doctor stitched Michelle's head.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"A soccer mom just was able to beat the shit out of one of my best agents" Chappelle shook his head and turned back toward the glass.

"Karen was angry about what happened to her son, she attacked Michelle, because I guess she blames her"

"Oh come on, you saw that woman... Michelle could've had that woman pinned against the wall begging for mercy in two seconds..." he shook his head in disgust "even with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back she coulda taken that woman down..." Chappelle turned back to Tony "look at her... she didn't fight at all... I wanna know why" he said walking out the door.

Tony looked in at Michelle. She had a sad dazed look in her eyes as she stared into space. Tony entered the room as the doctor was finishing, when the doctor left Tony reached out and cupped Michelle's face "You alright sweetheart?" he asked gently.

She looked up at him and her eyes filled with tears, her voice was small and broken "I wanna go home"

He nodded his head "Ok let's go" he took her hand and led her out.

Michelle was silent the entire ride home. He was really worried about her. When they got home she got out and headed inside in silence. He followed her inside and watched her walk toward the stairs

"Baby are you hungry?" he asked.

"No thanks" she said quietly as she went up the stairs.

He went into the kitchen and looked down at the plate of food she didn't get to eat. 'She _should_ be hungry' he thought with worry 'Maybe she just needs space' he thought. He looked at the time it was almost 5 in the morning, they had been up all night so he went into the living room and turned on the TV. Within minutes he was asleep on the couch.

As Tony slept he felt pressure on his back. He opened his eyes and saw the clock '6:12AM' he looked down and saw two small soft hands holding his chest, these hands belonged to arms that were wrapped around him. Michelle was squeezed in behind him holding onto him tightly. He smiled and turned over pulling her into his arms. He held her securely. She looked up at him, he was startled he hadn't realized she was awake. "Hey" he said stroking her face "You alright?" he asked softly.

She shook head 'no' and was silent for few minutes as he stroked he head "I wish I could take it back" she said sadly.

He held her close and kissed her forehead "You did the right thing sweetheart... I know it doesn't feel like it, but you did"

"Then why am I in so much pain?" she asked in a heavy emotional voice.

He rubbed her back and kissed her head "Because this time the hardest thing was the right thing"

She shook her head "I could've saved him"

"Baby you can't put this on yourself"

"But its my fault I caused the accident... on purpose"

"You followed orders and made a decision that saved thousands of lives"

"I killed an innocent little boy"

"Michelle... remember that day, when that girl was killed and I felt terrible... what did you tell me?"

"That it wasn't your fault... cuz it wasn't, _this_ was my fault... he didn't have to die... if I had just hit the van in a different way-"

"Don't think like that... you didn't know"

"I should've hit the driver... he wouldn't be there... that would've saved him and the car still would have crashed"

"It was a split-second decision... if you had stopped to think they would've gotten away"

"And he'd be alive"

"And thousands other would be dead" he said.

"Maybe"

He sighed "Forgive yourself Michelle, remember what you told me... he's gone... its not gonna help him to keep beating yourself up about it"

"I can't," she said sadly as a tear fell onto his shirt.

"Give it time baby," he said tucking her head in and rocking her slowly until she fell asleep.

_Sick and Tired of this world  
There's no more air  
Trippin' over myself  
Goin' nowhere  
Waiting  
Suffocating  
No direction  
And I took a dive  
_

That day Tony had a morning conference to attend at Division so he carefully slid himself out from under her and wrapped her up in the blanket, giving her a light kiss before leaving.

When he got home it was humid and threatening to rain. He walked into the house and dropped his keys on the counter. Michelle wasn't on the couch anymore and she hadn't texted him "Michelle?" he called. He looked around but couldn't find her. He went back down into the kitchen where he heard Garren scratching at the door. He opened the door to let him in and saw Michelle sitting on the swing in the backyard.

She was watching the waves and swinging slowly and silently with a far-away look in her eyes. He sat in the swing next to hers and sighed watching the waves and looking at the sky, the rain was definitely coming. He looked over at Michelle, her eyes were glassy and hadn't moved at all. She finally spoke "I was thinking," she cleared her throat, "I was thinking about these swings, and why we put them here"

"For your nieces and nephews when they come to visit" he said.

"For our children" she said with a faint smile.

He smiled at the thought "Yea, them too"

"Then I was thinking about Karen," she said and then thought for a moment. Tony's smile faded. "She was heart broken today… because of me" Tony didn't know what to say so he let her continue "I can't imagine the pain of losing a child…" she looked at the swing she was on "it's gotta be terrible, I never wanted to do that to someone"

"In all honesty Michelle, you didn't" he said "Mikey's father was a terrorist who put his son's life in danger… who was ready to kill thousands of people, you stopped that" he stood up and offered his hand "Come here" he said gently.

She looked up with watery eyes and slowly took his hand.

_I've been wondering why_  
_It's only me_  
_Have you always been inside_  
_Waiting to breathe_  
_It's alright_  
_Sunlight_  
_On my face_  
_I wake up and yeah, I'm alive_

Michelle looked away as they pulled into the park. "Why are we here?" she said looking out the window.

"Please just trust me," he said. He led her over and they sat on a bench watching the children play. Michelle was holding back her emotions and Tony leaned toward her "See the little girl in the pink?" he asked.

She nodded her head in silence.

"She looks smart, she's probably gonna go to college, maybe be a doctor" he smiled "And look at the little guy over there" he said pointing to a little boy climbing the stairs "I could see him driving a fire-truck"

She began to smile faintly.

"They're cute aren't they?"

Michelle nodded.

"They are all alive today because of you" he said, "They all have a chance to go to college and become great people because of you" she looked up at him "Mikey was a great kid and its tragic that he died, but look at all these kids who get to live because he was brave"

Michelle smiled sadly "He was really brave"

"And so were you" he said. She wrapped her arms around him and he held her tightly.

_'cause on the way down_  
_I saw you_  
_And you saved me_  
_From myself_  
_And I won't forget_  
_The way you loved me_  
_On the way down_  
_I almost fell right through_  
_But I held onto you_

_I was so afraid_  
_Of going under_  
_But now_  
_The weight of the world_  
_Feels like nothing, no, nothing_

She kissed him "Thank you so much Tony"

He stroked her face "Hey, I've been through the same thing… I love how we can save lives at our job, but I do recognize it can be terrible at times, but it does get better…. It'll never be easy to watch someone die, trust me… but I'll always be here to help you through the bad days, because I know you'll be there for me"

"I love you"

"I love you too baby, now lets go home" he said pulling her up off the bench.

"I'm starving" Michelle said causing Tony to laugh.

He swung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer "How about Chinese?"

She smiled "Sounds perfect"

_Down, down, down_  
_You're all I wanted_  
_Down, down, down_  
_You're all I needed_  
_Down, down, down_  
_You're all I wanted_  
_You're all I needed_

_And I won't forget the way you loved me_


	77. Chapter 77 Forever and For Always

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Shania Twain_)

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_Thank you thank you thank you for ALL of your reviews:) They definitely make my day:) And if its possible for you to get a FanFiction account that would be great so I can reply to you!! ;)_

_This chapter has some flashbacks to the wedding which most of you have been looking forward to, and as a side note, I know many of you can't wait to see them have children, don't worry children will come, don't let this chapter worry you, eventually in many many many chapters there will definately be little ones:)_

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~ Chapter 77 ~

_"You look gorgeous" Tony said softly sitting next to Michelle as they rode in the limo as he played with the beads on the top of her dress that lined her chest._

_"You like the dress?" she said watching him._

_He looked up into her eyes and put his hand on her face "I love it all" he smiled kissing her tenderly "I love every" he kissed her "little" he kissed her again "bit of you"_

_"Aww what a nice picture" Tony heard his mom say from the other end of the limo._

_FLASH_

"Michelle"

Michelle was startled from her reminiscing she spun her chair around "Yea John?"

"I just wanted to let you know the new protocols are up and running, so is it ok if I scoot outta here?"

Michelle glanced over at the clock '5:06' and her desk phone rang. "Yea have a great Thanksgiving John"

"You too" he smiled heading off.

"Dessler" she answered.

"Hey its me" she knew exactly who 'me' was so she smiled "you ready to get outta here?" he asked.

"Just about" she smiled softly as she finished typing her briefing "I can meet ya in 10"

"Alright I'll be in the car," he said.

Michelle got up and headed to Chloe's station "Hey Chloe" she said walking up to Chloe "Me and Tony are heading out a little early today so I was wondering if you'd like to be the one to run the bullpen and brief the night crew... its only 45 minutes and I think you're ready"

Chloe looked surprised "So I'll be running procedures?"

Michelle smiled "Yup"

A small smile formed on Chloe's face "Tony's ok with this?"

Michelle nodded "We agreed you are ready, we will be hiring a new protocol manager to take the place of third in command of intelligence since we'd like to keep you as head of Comm. but we think you have potential so he wants to give you some experience" she smiled "And you have both our cell numbers so you can call us if you need anything"

She stood up "Thanks... but won't I need a higher clearance for today?"

"You've already been bumped to a level 5... and that's _not_ temporary" she smiled.

_(A few minutes later)_

"Was she excited or what?" Tony smiled as Michelle got into the car.

"Ecstatic" Michelle smiled closing the door "in her own Chloe way"

Tony shook his head and pulled out "She can consider it a gift.... since today is Thanksgiving" he chuckled "I'm sure _every _rule will be enforced... she'll do a great job"

"Plus we need to get to my brothers before we miss dinner" Michelle said holding Tony's hand and looking out the window.

_(20 minutes later)_

"Aunt Michelle!!" the two little children ran and jumped on Michelle.

She caught them and kissed them on the heads "Hey you two"

"Aunt Michelle! I lost a tooth! Wanna see?!" Kayla said proudly opening her mouth to show the missing tooth.

"That's _pretty _cool!" she smiled "Remind me later and I'll give ya something for it" she winked.

"You look different" Danny Jr. said eyeing her closely as she held him.

She looked over at him "Yea how?"

"I don't know," he thought scratching his head "You're smiling a lot I think"

"That's cuz I'm happy" she smiled "Which reminds me… did you say 'Hi' to your Uncle Tony?"

"He's our uncle?" Kayla asked in a hushed voice.

"Yup" Michelle said.

"Is he nice?" DJ asked.

Michelle smiled at Tony "Yea he's nice" she said "You know how you love it when Aunt Michelle teaches you secret agent moves?"

"Yea!" DJ said excitedly.

"Well Uncle Tony knows _a lot_ of them… I'm sure he'll show ya some if you ask nicely"

"Are you as strong as my Aunt Michelle?" DJ asked as Michelle put him back down on the floor.

Tony waved him over and squatted down to his level so he could whisper in his ear "Don't tell her I said this… but I'm even _stronger_"

"No _way_!" DJ said, "I gotta see first, I don't believe you"

DJ took Tony's hand and pulled him off toward the living room.

Michelle smiled at Tony and followed Candice into the kitchen "Dinner's almost ready"

"Good I'm starving" she smiled.

Danny smiled "Yea you're always starving"

15 minutes later they were all sitting down to eat.

"Mommy Uncle Tony is so cool!" DJ said scooping up some mashed potatoes "He taught me how to tuck and roll! Uncle Tony can jump off the back of a car!"

Michelle looked up with worry "Don't you ever try that DJ, Uncle Tony must have _forgotten_ to tell you about the special tuck and roll gear they make him wear when he has to jump off cars so he doesn't get hurt"

"Yup he told me he has to wear special armor at work so no bad guys hurt him and he has to be really careful" he said taking a drink of his juice.

Michelle glanced over at Tony and smiled "Good"

Candice smiled "You have any other nieces or nephews Tony?"

"Nope" Tony said.

"But you have like 3 sisters right?" Danny asked.

Tony chuckled "2 brothers and a sister actually"

"Really? Wow, and no kids?"

"Well we're not sure what it is, but we think there's something hereditary going on, because my sister-in-law has had two miscarriages and my other sister just had one this past Christmas, my other brother is still dating but the doctors think it's a genetic disorder so as of right now we don't have any answers"

"I'm sorry" Danny said.

"That's terrible" Candice said sadly watching them closely.

"So you have it too?" Danny asked.

"I don't know yet," Tony said.

"You guys wanted children though right?" Candice said.

"We _want_ them" Michelle said "Not yet, with our job the way it is with always our lives constantly being put in danger… but once we transfer to a department without field operations we hope to have children"

Tony took Michelle's hand under the table "We _will_ have them"

"I hope it all works out," Candice said "I'm sure they'll figure it out, medicine is amazing these days"

Michelle nodded with a smile "I'm not worried" she said confidently "So what have you guys been up to?" Michelle asked as she passed the corn to Tony.

"Well I've been working as a teacher at the elementary school" Candice smiled.

"Really? Wow! I had no idea! I haven't talked to you in forever!"

"I know I haven't seen you two since the wedding!"

"Yea and I didn't even get to catch up with you then cuz there was so much going on," Michelle laughed.

"Yea and you two were too busy disappearing into dark corners," Danny muttered.

"That only happened once!" Tony chuckled.

"Why is everyone _so_ hung up on that?" Michelle laughed.

"I've heard so many rumors about where you two were," Candice giggled.

Tony rolled his eyes "We stepped out for _five _minutes"

"More like 20" Danny said.

Michelle shook her head "I can only imagine what you people have come up with"

"I heard you booked a room upstairs," Candice said.

Michelle looked at her in disbelief "At the reception hall? A bedroom?"

"That was kind of the idea..." Candice said glancing over at the children to make sure they weren't catching on. They were watching TV and not paying attention to the adult conversation at all "I also heard the limo stuck around... and it had a big back seat"

"Wow our friends have some active imaginations" Tony raised his eyebrows shaking his head.

"I heard you guys had to go to work" Danny said.

"In the middle of our wedding?" Michelle asked.

"With your job I wouldn't be surprised" he said "Someone's always threatening to blow something up"

"Ain't that the truth" Tony muttered.

"So ya gonna tell us where you were?" Candice asked.

Tony and Michelle looked at each other and answered in unison "Nah"

"We kinda like it being a mystery" Tony smiled.

"We haven't told anyone, it's a part of our wedding that's just for us," Michelle said. "It was my _favorite_ part," she thought with a smile.

"Alright if you're not gonna tell us stop teasing us" Candice laughed "But if you ever decide to tell, call me up… I'd love to hear it"

_FLASH_

_"Ok Mrs. Almeida look here" the photographer said holding his hand up. Michelle did as she was told. "And Mr. Almeida over here" he said pointing another direction as he looked through the lens "Mrs. Almeida just lean in a little" he said._

_Tony nudged her with a chuckle "Yea Mrs. Almeida..."_

_She shook her head with smile leaning in._

_"Ok they're about to serve dinner so I'll let you two go" the photographer said taking one last picture. "Then when you finish we'll get picture of the bouquet and garner toss"_

_"So much to do" Tony sighed, "This is the longest wedding ever" he chuckled._

_"I just can't wait to go home" she smiled._

_He smiled and kissed her softly "Me too" she closed her eyes as he kissed her until she heard the photographer take another picture. She opened her eyes and rolled them. Tony just wanted to have one minute with her without cameras or people watching "I think we need a break" he said in a low tone only she could here. She smiled and he took her hand leading her toward the kitchen. _

_"Where are we going?" Michelle giggled as they carefully made their way to the kitchen trying to avoid being noticed. The photographer tried to follow them but the agent outside the kitchen door did not let him pass. _

_The kitchen workers all turned around wondering what the bride and groom were doing running through the kitchen. "Don't mind us!" Tony said as he and Michelle hurried through the kitchen giggling. _

_"Tony!" Michelle laughed trying to catch her breath "where are we going?"_

_He opened the back door to the kitchen and helped her down the stairs, holding her dress up for her as she held onto his shoulder and stepped down carefully. Once she was down the stairs she looked up. The sun was almost finished setting and there was a small lake. Michelle smiled up at him as he led her down the path to the lake._

_He sat on the bench and pulled her down onto his lap. She smiled down at him and kissed him then rested her head on top of his as she watched the glittering lake._

_"I've been thinking lately about how much I love you," he said._

_She looked down at him with a smile as he gazed off at the lake._

_"And I can feel it but for some reason I can't think of any word to describe it... nothing is this big, this strong, this perfect..." he paused and looked down caressing her hands which were in his "But the other day I was driving home and it was raining and I thought about all the little rain drops...God there's gotta be billions of them that fall in just a few seconds in Los Angeles alone, then there's the ones that already have fallen and then the ones that will fall.... puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans... all full of little raindrops... that's a lot of raindrops..." he looked up at her "That's how much I love you... I love you as much as all the little raindrops put together" A tear ran down Michelle's face and he caught it with his thumb "This one too" he smiled and she laughed. "So the next time it rains or you go swimming... remember that" he smiled and she pulled him close to her and kissed him passionately._

_A few more tears rolled down her cheeks, as she pulled away "I don't even know what to say Tony"_

_He smiled and wiped away another tear "You don't have to say anything baby"_

_In your arms I can still feel the way you want me when you hold me  
I can still hear the words you whispered when you told me  
I can stay right here forever in your arms_

In your heart I can still hear a beat for every time you kiss me  
And when we're apart I know how much you miss me  
I can feel your love for me in your heart

In your eyes

_I can still see the look of the one who really loves me  
I can still feel the way that you want  
The one who wouldn't put anything else in the world above me_

_I can still see love for me in your eyes  
I still see the love__Always__  
I'm in your arms_

And there ain't no way I'm lettin' you go now  
And there ain't no way and there ain't no how  
I'll never see that day

'Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always  
We will be together all of our days  
Wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face


	78. Chapter 78 I Melt

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 78 ~

Tony pulled his eyelids open reluctantly. He looked at the clock '2:16AM' he looked down at his angel and smiled lightly he did not want to get up and have to leave all this warmth and comfort but he had a mission. He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed softly and after a few minutes he slowly pulled himself away. As he did this, she instinctively cuddled closer to him and he smiled letting her re-wrap herself around him. Now he _really_ didn't want to get up but he had to… so a few minutes later he pulled himself away from her and carefully climbed out of bed. He wrapped her in the blankets so she wouldn't miss his warmth enough to wake up.

He quietly crept out of the room and a few minutes later he returned with their suitcases and an excited smile. He carefully unzipped the suitcases and began to pack their bags taking extra care not to wake her… when he was with her she was the heaviest sleep ever but when he wasn't there she couldn't sleep so he had to be careful not to wake her.

He went into her closet and picked out a few of her outfits that he especially loved. As he put them into the suitcase he smelt them and closed his eyes taking in her scent, which he loved so much.

He packed her flip-flops, bathing suit, bathrobe and some of his t-shirts and boxers for her pajamas. He thought carefully about all the things she would need, this was difficult because usually she did the packing when either of them had to go away. He got her charger, travel toothbrush, and hairbrush and finished packing her suitcase. Once he had finished packing both suitcases he loaded them into the trunk of the Jetta and snuck back upstairs. He smiled as he climbed back into bed next to Michelle. He pulled her in close and she instinctually cuddled close to him and for a few seconds he felt and happy peace wash over him and the next thing he knew the alarm clock was blaring three hours later.

"Turn it off…turn it off….turn it _off_!" he heard Michelle plead sleepily.

He swung his arm out and silenced the alarm then fell back asleep.

A few minutes later, "Tonyyyyy" he heard Michelle call gently "Wake uuuuup" He could feel her running her fingers through his hair. She kissed him lightly "We have to go to work"

"Five more minutes" he grumbled with his eyes closed as a small smile formed on his face.

"You always say that" she giggled.

Twenty minutes later Michelle stepped out of the shower while Tony stayed in the shower enjoying the hot water.

"Tony have you seen my robe?" Michelle asked.

Tony's eyes widened 'Crap' he thought jumping out of the shower "Uh maybe its in the laundry?" he offered.

"No I did all the laundry yesterday" she thought "Maybe…" she said walking toward her closet.

Tony had to stop her before she noticed the missing clothes so he thought fast and chased after her slowly pulling her back into his embrace "Come here you" he said he wrapped his arms around her tight and began kissing the side of her neck making her go weak. "You don't need a robe" he spun her around and kissed her deeply.

She looked up him with her beautiful eyes and his heart melted as she smiled and kissed him "Then I guess you won't be needing this" she said dropping his towel to the floor.

He smiled lowering her onto the bed and positioning himself on top of her "Trust me," eh said cupping her face "I don't need _anything_ but this"

_I melt every time you look at me that way  
It never fails, anytime, any place  
This burn in me is the coolest thing I've ever felt  
I melt_

Don't know how you do it  
I love the way I lose it, every time  
What's even better  
Is knowing that forever you're all mine  
The closer you get, the more my body aches  
One little stare from you is all it takes

_(25 minutes later)_

"All right now where's my brush?" Michelle said searching the bathroom frantically.

"Don't you keep an extra in your car?" he said fixing his collar.

"Ok then you wanna take my car?" she asked grabbing her purse.

"Yea why not" he said shrugging his shoulders with a slight smile, happy to see his plan was working.

Ten minutes later they were flying down the road. Tony looked over at Michelle as she drove "Hey Michelle?"

"Yea baby?" she said glancing over at him.

"Do you trust me?" he asked with a slight smirk.

Her eyes narrowed and she glanced over with slight worry "I trust you with my life… you know that… why?"

"Turn left"

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Trust me… turn left right there" he said pointing to a street coming up.

She eyed him closely then followed his directions "Sweetheart what's going on we are already late, this road doesn't go anywhere near CTU"

"Trust me" he said.

"Can you just tell me where we are going?" she asked.

"Just _trust_ me"

She nodded her head and continued to follow his directions not questioning him any further.

Eventually they pulled up to the airport and he told her to park.

She parked and Tony got out of the car "Tony? Wait!" she said jumping out the car following him "Where are you going?!"

"We need a vacation Michelle"

She smiled slightly at the simple absurdity of the situation "Tony- what!? _Vacation?_" she asked in desperate confusion.

He walked up close to her and stroked the side of her face "Come on vacation with me" he smiled.

"Sweetheart I'd love to but we need to plan for things like this...book flights and hotels... we were supposed to be at CTU fifteen minutes ago... we need to plan this ahead of time, pack and-"

The trunk popped open and pulled out their suitcases "We don't have to be at work til next Friday and our flight leaves in 45 minutes" he said putting on sunglasses then starting off toward the entrance with a giant smile. 'She never saw it comin'

Michelle took a minute to let it all sink in. A huge smile spread across her face and she ran up behind him jumping on his back.

"Did I ever tell you that you are the most amazing man ever?" Michelle whispered in his ear then kissed the side of his head.

"I think that's what you were yelling this morning" he smiled.

She blushed and slid off his back then walked up next to him and kissed him again then took some of the bags from him leaving one hand free to hold his. "Just when I think it can't get any better, I turn around and you surprise me"

He smiled down at her "I get the same feeling when I wake up every morning and you're next to me"

She smiled and took his hand as they walked through the doors "I never knew it was possible to be this happy"

They reached the counter "Hi can I have your boarding passes?"

_(30 minutes later)_

"Here we go Row 2 Seats A and B" Tony said letting Michelle in to the window seat.

She sat down and looked out the window with bright smile. 25minutes later they were taking off but as they left the ground Michelle turned to Tony "Tony!" she said with worry.

His smiled faded "What?"

"What about Garren?"

"Gina's gonna take care of him and keep an eye on the house... after all she's still living in my old place so she's not far"

"I like having her close by"

He smiled "Me too... I wonder if she's gonna move back after college"

"I hope not" she said "What did Chappelle say?"

Tony rolled his eyes imitating Chappelle " 'Tony now do you understand why I wasn't keen on this... I'm losing my director and my chief of staff at once because their married' shakin his head... he was annoyed but oh well, we both have vacation time so not much he can do"

She nodded her head then smiled rested her head on his shoulder as they flew over California.

"You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"The point of going on vacation is to to a place you love thats luxurious and has everything you want" he with a smile

"like our home" she finished his thought with a smile.

"Exactly" he said "There's no more perfect place... so it was hard to think of where to go"

"Why'd you choose Florida?"

"My family used to go there every summer, great memories there"

"We can bring our family there too" she smiled.

He smiled putting his arm around her "We'll bring all our beautiful, little curly-haired babies to Disney" he smiled imagining it in his head.

"They'll all have little brown eyes" she smiled.

"And they'll be Cubs fans"

Michelle rolled her eyes with a smile "yeah yeah yeah"

"They will" he said confidently "You just wait, you'll see"

_(That night in LA)_

Gina drove into the garage and parked next to the Denali. She walked up to the door leading into the house and pressed her thumb against the bottom of the lock. The scanner beeped and the door unlocked. She walked in and Garren jumped up on her licking her happily "Ugh...Gar your getting huge! Easy your gonna kill me" she laughed pushing him off her. He ran circles barking happily. She began to fill Garren's bowl when the house phone rang. She picked it up "Hello?"

"Hey Michelle its Liz we haven't seen you in forever, we wanted to know if you wanted to come out with us tonight"

"Uh sorry, Michelle's not here... this is Gina her sister-in-law"

"Oh!" Liz laughed "Sorry... when will she be home?"

"In like a week... she's on vacation"

"Oh" she said "Well I guess that's a 'no' for tonight then... thanks"

"Yup, you're welcome" she said hanging up "Maybe I'll go out tonight... whata ya think Gar-Gar?" Garren barked "Yea... I think I'll take the Denali" she smiled.

_(Meanwhile at CTU)_

"It looks like it's going to be a long night so I ordered dinner" Jack said to the small group in front of him.

Chloe, Jack, Kim, Chase and Adam walked into the conference room helping themselves to pizza and soda and sitting down at the table. "You all met Chase right?" Jack asked the group as they sat down.

"Yea" they all answered one by one beginning to eat in silence.

"Is it always this quiet?" Chase chuckled.

"Normally Tony makes us socialize so no, but he's not here" Chloe said.

"Its so quiet with them gone" Kim said.

"Where'd they go anyway?" Adam asked, "I could really use Michelle's help"

"They went to Florida, they both had vacation time" Chloe said.

"Must be nice" Adam said "Instead being here all night and day they're probably gonna be watching fireworks or going on roller coasters"

Jack smirked "or not"

Chloe shook her head in disapproval "I'm eating… those are my bosses"

Ignoring Chloe Chase said, "They don't seem like that the crazy-in-love kind of couple"

"That's cuz you only see them at work" Kim said, "At home they are completely different then they are here… you'd be really surprised"

Jack nodded his head "They are… because that kind of couple…" he paused.

Chase chuckled "the crazy-in-love kind"

Jack nodded "Yea… that's them"

"I don't know" Chase shook his head "I can't picture it"

_(Meanwhile)_

They walked into the room and Tony pushed Michelle onto the bed. She landed on her back giggling as he climbed on top of her and began kissing her all over. "This is such a nice room," she said looking around.

He smiled as he lay down next to her and pulled her close "it's a honeymoon suite"

She smiled over at him "A second honeymoon? This is the best Christmas present ever!"

"For both of us" he smiled "No paper-work, no division, no bills, no laundry… just us"

"And Disney world" she giggled.

"Oh yea" he chuckled "That too"

"I'm gonna call and check on Gina and let her know we're here" Michelle said sitting up and going to get her phone. She dialed Gina.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gina it's Michelle"

"Hey you... how'd you like your surprise Christmas present?"

Michelle laughed "Its amazing, thank you for watching the house for us"

"Of course" she said as she drove.

"What's that music in the background?" Michelle asked.

"I'm taking the Denali out," Gina said.

"Just cuz you won't get pulled over doesn't mean you should do dangerous things… I'm serious be careful"

"I'm not doing anything bad" Gina smiled "Maybe speeding a little, but nothing bad"

"Alright be careful"

"Wait is she taking my car?!" Tony said jumping off the bed.

"Uh oh" Gina said hearing Tony "Have fun you two! Gotta go!"

Michelle laughed hanging up the phone "Relax… your car will be fine"

"It better" he grumbled.

"How about we get your mind off of Gina," She said sitting down on his lay.

"I know a restaurant we can go to and watch the fireworks while we eat" he smiled as she rubbed his head.

She kissed him and leaned her forehead against his "Sounds perfect"

_(The next day)_

"You have _got_ to be kidding me" Michelle laughed watching Tony.

"What?" he said defensively "I'm not afraid"

"You are so afraid" she giggled.

Tony looked around nervously walking up to her and covering her mouth "Shhh… don't say that so loud… I am _not _scared" A round of scream came from the Tower of Terror and Tony winced "I just have a thing about elevators"

"A thing?" she giggled.

"Yea" Tony smiled… he couldn't help but smile when she smiled "It's not funny, I'm totally serious" he chuckled.

"Come on" she said pulling him toward the ride "It's just a ride"

"No its not a ride… roller coasters are rides… this is just… weird" he said letting her tug him along slowly.

"Come on, I'll hold your hand if you want" she smiled.

His smiled softened as he walked with her up to the ride.

"So what's with you and elevators?"

"I just don't like em ok" he said with a slight smile.

"Tell me" she pushed as they stood in line.

He sighed, "When I was little I got stuck in one by myself… power went out and everything went dark, I was scared"

"Aww" she said wrapping her arms around him "Don't worry I'm right here with you this time, you're not alone"

Tony smiled and kissed her then noticed they had an audience and perked up. He stroked Michelle's head "Don't worry honey it's just a ride"

She rolled her eyes as the doors opened and they went inside.

_(The next night)_

Michelle laid back against Tony as they relaxed in their jacuzzi gazing up at the stars "Remember we were last year at this time?" she asked.

He thought, "Yea I had to go that stupid director's training and I missed Christmas"

"Yea but we had our own Christmas"

"It was amazing… thanks to you," he said kissing the side of her head.

"When we get back home it'll be Christmas Eve" Michelle thought aloud.

"Yea" he smiled "I thought you'd like to have Christmas at home"

She smiled "Yea… I'm so glad we came here, I've had so much fun and this is the most perfect Christmas ever… thank you" she said turning around in his arms and kissing him.

He smiled and tucked a wet curl behind her ear "You're welcome baby"


	79. Chapter 79 Everlasting Love

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Natalie Cole_)

_Hello! :) Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted, things have been a little crazy lately… but here it is! Chapter 79… chapter 80 is already well underway, oftentimes I find myself spending a lot of time on future chapters, I have a bunch of future chapters already written… speaking of future chapters…_

_Many of you are hoping to here more about Disney world, the wedding, and other happy times that I've skipped over… I've been doing this on purpose. As we all know Tony and Michelle have some pretty dark and terrible times ahead of them… Those chapters are gonna be pretty sad, so… in an effort to lighten them up so we all don't have to go through a depression lol... I'm going to flash back to the happy times I've left open so we can still have some happiness in the face of all the sadness to come, it will all work out I promise:)_

~ Chapter 79 ~

"Wow Mrs. Almeida this is a really nice table you've set" the young brown-haired man said to Bella as she finished cooking Christmas Eve dinner.

"Why thank you" she smiled.

"And this is a nice house Mr. Almeida"

He chuckled "Thanks"

Gina steered his shoulders into the living room "Save it" she smiled "They're not the ones you need to impress"

He was confused "Weren't those your parents?"

"Yea" she said "But I'm not concerned with what _they _think" she said, "The only people who's opinions I'm interested in aren't here yet… so don't even bother sucking up"

"Yea? And who is that?" he smiled.

Out the window she saw the Denali coming down the street "They're here!" she said going out the door to greet them. He watched as a man got out of the drivers side, he had to be Gina's brother, he could easily see the resemblance. Gina opened the door to the passenger side of the SUV and a pretty woman with curly hair climbed out and hugged Gina excitedly. They talked happily and followed the man up to the door.

Gina came in with a huge smile "Ok so here they are" she said to him. "This is my brother Tony," she said "and his wife Michelle"

He smiled and shook Tony's hand "Hi, my name is James" he turned and hugged Michelle "But everyone calls me Jay for short"

Michelle's smile faded slightly "Can I just call you James?"

He thought for a second and looked over at Gina who's look said 'These people are very important to me, if they don't like you we have a problem' so he looked at Michelle and smiled "Sure, you can call me whatever you want"

_(An hour later)_

"So what do you think?" Gina asked Michelle as they sat by the fire while everyone else was in the other room.

"I don't know, he seems nice," Michelle said.

"You don't know?" Gina smiled "Oh come on… you guys are federal agents, you can read people, you gotta have more than that"

"Yea we can tell what their intentions are, when they're nervous, when they're lying, when they're violent… but as a person? I don't know him yet, unless you want us to interrogate him" she shook her head with a smile "We will learn little by little through discussion… yea we'll be able to pick up more things about him than anyone else through small leads in what he says and how he acts but we're not psychic" she smiled "What's more important is what _you_ think"

"Hey" Tony said sticking his head "You guys eatin?" he smiled.

"Yea" Michelle mirrored his smile.

"Alright, come on" he said "Before my dad eats it all"

Gina walked out heading for the kitchen but Tony stayed back with Michelle. She took his hand and began to head toward the kitchen but he pulled her back. "You okay?" he asked pulling her closer.

She looked at him knowing there was no point in even trying to hide anything from him, he'd see right through it "I don't know why, but hearing that name over and over all night is starting to get to me" she shook her head looking away. She knew it was stupid and almost didn't want to say anything, but he'd know anyway.

"That's what I thought," he nodded his head and watched her closely "Just remember, he's a thing in the past… tonight is about having fun with family on Christmas Eve, not him"

She looked up and kissed him slowly, closing her eyes. She slowly opened them "Ok, _that_'s what I needed" she smiled.

He took her hand and they went toward the dining room.

"So Jay how are your grades… you are in college right?" Bella asked.

"Yea, they're pretty good," he answered nervously.

"What's pretty good?" Bella smiled

"_Mom_" Gina dropped her head into her hands.

"Geez Ma go easy on him" Tony chuckled sitting down.

"What?" she asked defensively "I was just wondering… trying to make small talk while _you two_ keep us waiting"

"Sorry she gets a little cranky when she's hungry" Tony said passing her the potatoes.

"I do _not!_" Bella retorted.

"And this interrogation type thing is _completely_ normal" Michelle told him with a smile "I got it too"

He smiled and laughed, "How long have you two been married?"

"4 months" Michelle answered.

"Wow! Newlyweds" he nodded his head taking some corn.

"Yea, but I met Bella over a year ago and went through the same thing" she laughed.

He smiled "Nice to know it's not just me"

"In my defense, Michelle, when I met you I thought you were pregnant" Bella said.

Jay laughed, "Why would you think that?" he asked.

Everyone's face dropped when they realized where this conversation was going. Bella had mis-overheard that Michelle was pregnant, when it had really been Gina. No one was sure if James knew about that and for sure Gina didn't want to discuss it. Tony jumped in to change the subject "Moms a little nosy, plus she was a little of unsure of us when we showed up to dinner covered in mud"

"What? Covered in mud?" Jay laughed and the mood lifted and Gina began breathing again.

"Well we got a flat tire on the way and it was pouring rain…" Tony began telling the story. Michelle reached under the table and squeezed Gina's hand as Tony kept Jay busy, giving Gina a second out of the spotlight. Within minutes the conversation was on to old cars and they were safely out of the woods.

_(Later)_

"You guys should stay the night," Bella offered.

"Nah mom, we got work tomorrow," Tony said.

"And someone has to let Garren out" Michelle said "But thank you"

"Drive safe!" she said as they began to leave.

Michelle found Gina taking out the trash "Hey you" she smiled "Me and Tony are heading home" she hugged Gina.

"I'm gonna stay over night…wish you didn't have to go" Gina smiled.

"Yea" Michelle said starting to leave.

"Hey Michelle" she called and Michelle turned around. Gina looked up "Thanks for…. Ya know, coming to the rescue at the table"

Michelle gave her a small smile "No problem… it will get easier I promise… the pain always fades"

Gina nodded "You guys are really amazing ya know that?"

Michelle tilted her head in curiosity.

"In an _instant_ you two saw a crisis coming and without even looking at each other, _together_ you handled it seamlessly… he knew what to say and you knew what to do" she said with a faded smile "…I want that" she looked down.

"You'll find it" Michelle said stroking her head.

"You gonna _walk_ home Michelle?" they heard Tony call.

Gina looked up at her and smiled. Michelle rolled her eyes "No… but you're gonna be riding on the _roof _if you don't watch it" she called back. She gave Gina another hug "Merry Christmas" she smiled.

"Merry Christmas" she said watching Michelle leave.

_(The next morning…Christmas Morning)_

"Now _there's _something ya don't see every day," Tony laughed as he unwrapped his present from Michelle "Not many men are lucky enough to have wives that buy them _this_ for Christmas"

"It's the one you keep trying to get Ryan to buy for the teams"

"Yea... cheap jerk..." he said opening the brand new gun's chamber "This is _so_ nice… it's the exact one!" he smiled "Yea this is coming with me on every mission" he chuckled "they'll all be so jealous… even the terrorists will be jealous" he put it down carefully and wrapped his arms around her "Thank you sweetheart"

"Your welcome baby" she smiled. She pulled the 2 small boxes out from under the tree. She opened the smallest first. It was a pair of earrings. She smiled at the sight of them "They look familiar"

He smiled sheepishly "I still can't find the one you lost in my office that night" he smiled at the memory of them making love in his office late at night when no one was around "I felt bad because I know you loved those earrings... are these ok?"

"I love them" she smiled kissing him "Thank you baby"

"Don't forget the other box," he said.

She opened the box to find a remote and she stared at it slightly confused "Uh... what's this for?" she smiled.

"Push play" he nudged her.

She looked at him then slowly pushed the play button. Suddenly the house came to life with music. She smiled and stood up "Where is it coming from?"

He smiled "I know how much you love listening to music when you're cleaning around the house so I had a stereo system installed, there are hidden speakers all over the house and you can turn any rooms on or off"

Her smile grew "That's _so_ cool!" she squealed as she ran into the other rooms hearing the music everywhere. She went back into the living room and pulled his face to hers kissing him passionately "Thank you Tony" she whispered.

"Would you like to dance?" he smiled.

She took his hand mirroring his smile "I'd love to"

_This will be  
An everlasting love  
This will be  
The one I've waited for  
This will be  
The first time anyone has loved me__You and me_

_I'm so glad_  
_He found me in time_  
_And I'm so glad that_  
_He rectified my mind_  
_This will be_  
_An everlasting love for me_

_Loving you_  
_Is some kind of wonderful_  
_Because you've shown me_  
_Just how much you care_  
_You've given me the thrill of a lifetime_  
_And made me believe you've got more thrills to spare_

_This will be_  
_And everlasting love_

_You've brought a lot of sunshine into my life_  
_You've filled me with happiness I never knew_  
_You gave me more joy than I ever dreamed of_  
_And no one, no one, can take the place of you_

_This will be_

_Eternally  
Huggin' and squeezin' and kissin' and pleasin'_

_together forever through rain or whatever  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you and me  
So long as I'm livin' true love I'll be givin'_

_To you I'll be servin' cause you're so deservin'_

_From now on, from now on, from now on, from now on_

_(New Year's Eve)_

"Listen to me... do you really want to be responsible if something happens? I understand you're busy but this _is _important... don't cut me off-" Tony heard silence on the phone hung up angrily.

"Any luck?" Michelle asked hopefully as she walked in the door.

"Nope he still won't listen... he said he's already looked into it and he doesn't think it legitimate"

"Did you tell him about the phone-calls we found?"

"Yea but he doesn't want to listen... it's New Year's Eve, they have a million other things going on... is Jack in place?" he asked.

"He's a couple blocks away" Micelle nodded as they walked down the stairs.

"I can't _believe_ I have to worry about terrorists on the other side of the country... if I'm right about this I am going straight to division and Director Wilson can kiss his job goodbye" Tony said shaking his head. He walked into the situation room where all the screen were lit up showing live feeds from New York...half monitoring Jack and the others watching Times Square. "Where are we?"

"Jack's about to enter the building... we better hope they're not expecting us"

"If they are watching anyone its CTU NY and they're clearly not helping with this... they'll never expect us… so at least we have the element of surprise on our side"

"Jack there are two hostiles at the top of the stairs" Chloe said into the Comm.

"They're they are" Tony grumbled angrily "Those are the exact people we profiled... and they are not just there to watch the ball drop"

_(10 minutes later)_

"Jack you have 90 seconds left before the New Year" Michelle said as Jack shot another man and ran toward the upper room.

Jack kicked the door down and killed two men instantly cornering another one "Get down!" he yelled as he ran over to the bomb "Tony it's got a activation button here... they were going to detonate it from here... it is not armed yet...I _repeat_... there is no set timer... we are safe... get me a bomb squad now!"

Their attention turned to Times Square "7-6-5-4-3-2-1-HAPPY NEW YEAR!" All the happy people yelled with smiles... the same people that had been so close to dying… smiled and laughed dancing in the streets.

Tony let out a sigh "Looks like Director Wilson owes us one _hell_ of an apology... Happy New Year everyone, excellent work... you can all debrief and go home... thank you" Tony said signaling Michelle to follow him.

They walked into his office and he closed the door behind her pushing her back against it, kissing her tenderly he smiled "Happy New Year sweetheart"

She smiled and stroked his face "Happy New Year baby... you were great tonight"

He smiled and looked away then back at her "Yea, you too... thanks for coming in with me"

"I wouldn't miss spending New Years with you for _anything_... no matter where we are"

He laughed "Yea... unfortunately it had to be here… thanks to ignorant people who can't do their job…"

Michelle smiled "Don't let him get to you... you were right, you saved millions of lives... and I'm _sure_ he'll be hearing about it"

"Ohhhh yes" Tony said with a smile taking her hands in his "Now lets go home and start this year off right"

_(45 minutes later)_

As they drove home in the dark holding hands Michelle stared out the window "So did you make a New Year's resolution?"

He let out a small laugh "I haven't done that in years… forgot about it"

"Me too" she smiled softly.

"We should though" he decided "In fact, you know what?"

"What?" she looked over at him.

"I got one," he said.

She smiled "What is it?"

"We should start eating breakfast… most important meal of the day and we never even bother"

"We never have time… we're always late for work for some reason," she giggled.

"We should make time" he said "I could cook pancakes, eggs, French toast, omelets we could have fruit, muffins or yogurt… whatever, but it would be better for us… way better than 3 cups of coffee each on an empty stomach every day… we need to take care of ourselves… especially you"

She raised her eyebrows "Why especially me?"

"You have to be healthy and take care of your body because someday" he smiled putting his hand on her abdomen "Some day your body will be growing our babies, so you gotta be strong and healthy"

She smiled and kissed him "Ok, we'll start eating breakfast"

"We don't have to start every day… we can start just once a week, then twice a week and so on until we are eating breakfast every day"

"Ok" she smiled "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow morning" Tony said, "Well actually…today… when we wake up… I'll make pancakes"

"So Tuesday's are pancake days?" she smiled.

"Yes they are" he smiled "But first we have to go to sleep" he said looking at the clock. It was almost 1AM.

"And before that we practice" Michelle smiled over at him.

"Practice what?"

"For someday, when we make a baby… we should practice" she smiled.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure we have plenty of practice" he smiled kissing her hand as they pulled into the garage.


	80. Chapter 80 When You Say Nothing At All

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Ronan Keating_)

~ Chapter 80 ~

The sun was just beginning to pour through the big windows in Tony and Michelle's bedroom. Tony was wide-awake with excitement that was unknown to Michelle, who was fast asleep next to him.

He smiled softly as he watched her sleep he stroked cheek lightly. The amount of desire he felt for her was overwhelming, he felt like he could never get enough of her. He kissed her forehead then her cheek, her chin, her chest, her shoulder then he pulled her shirt up and kissed her stomach causing her abdominal muscles to tense, he smiled proud of his ability to affect her even when she was sleeping with just a kiss. He smiled and continued kissing her down to her hips. Her breathing changed and as he did this and she sat up and looked down at him with her eyes half-open and her hair everywhere "W-whatcha doin?" she said sleepily.

His smile widened at her innocence, he climbed on top of her and kissed her deeply. He could tell she was still half asleep, but becoming more aware by the second "I love you" he whispered into her mouth. He felt her tugging at his boxers and knew she was wide-awake now. He smiled as he let her take control. How many men could say that whenever they wanted sex they didn't even have to say a word? His actions and the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. It amazed him how their minds, bodies and hearts seemed to be completely synchronized in every way. They didn't need to talk, they communicated on so many other levels and honestly… words were never strong enough to express the feelings they had for each other.

_It's amazing  
How you can speak right to my heart  
Without saying a word,  
You can light up the dark  
Try as I may  
I could never explain  
What I hear when you don't say a thing_

All day long I can hear people talking out loud  
But when you hold me near  
You drown out the crowd  
Try as they may they could never define  
What's been said between your heart and mine

_The smile on your face lets me know_  
_That you need me_  
_There's a truth in your eyes_  
_Saying you'll never leave me_  
_The touch of your hand says_  
_You'll catch me whenever I fall_  
_You say it best_  
_When you say nothing at all_

_The smile on your face_  
_The truth in your eyes_  
_The touch of your hand_  
_Let's me know_  
_That you need me_

Half an hour later Tony was back to kissing Michelle stomach as she smiled down at him "You are very awake this morning… did you get up early and have coffee before you woke me up?"

He smiled "No… I just… I don't know," he said climbing up and laying his head next to hers on the pillow "I'm just having a good day I guess"

She smiled "Yea well _you_ don't have to go to work today" she said "_Me_ on the other hand…" she looked over at the clock "yea I have to get in the shower soon"

"Mmm" Tony smiled "I could go for a shower"

Michelle laughed "I'm never gonna get to work on time if we shower together"

"Well then we better get started" he jumped off the bed and swung her over his shoulders.

"Ah! Tony!" she laughed as he carried her into the bathroom.

_(30 minutes later)_

"The coast is clear!" Tony whispered into the phone with a smile.

A few minutes later Gina pulled into the driveway and Tony hurried out. Gina's car was full of party decorations and balloons "Running late again?" she smiled knowingly.

"Alarm didn't go off" he smiled.

"Somehow I doubt that" she laughed carrying as much as she could carry into the house "I got 20 blue and 20 purple balloons" Gina said as she looked down the list to make sure they had everything.

Tony looked around "She's gonna be so surprised"

"Well yea, her birthday's not for another week and a half" Gina said, "It was a good idea"

"Alright lets start with the streamers"

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle pulled into the CTU parking garage and headed inside. As she headed into the bullpen three people came up to her.

"Hey Michelle, is Tony coming in today?"

"Hey Michelle we need to defrag the archive servers because they are lagging"

"Michelle, Mr. Chappelle just called, he needs a callback ASAP"

Michelle closed her eyes for a second then spun around "No he has the day off… yes go ahead but put up a bulletin first… and ok thank you" she said finally reaching her station and dropping into her chair with a sigh. Michelle missed Tony already she thought as she picked up the phone to call Ryan.

_(Back at the house)_

"Up a little" Gina directed as Tony hung the 'Happy Birthday' banner over the back door.

"Agents are not easy people to surprise, but I definitely got her this time" he smiled "I couldn't believe she got me on my birthday… I'm usually really good at figuring things like this out, but she got me…. Oh well now I got her" he chuckled as the beeper on the oven went off. "Oh! That's the cake"

"Yea yea yea… she was saying the same thing as we were decorating for your party" Gina smiled shaking her head as she taped a streamer to the ceiling.

_(Later at CTU)_

"Michelle, are you aware of the new server passkey protocols?"

"Yes our passkeys have already been re-formatted, tell Division it's done, thank you" Michelle said turning back to her computer.

It was just about time to take a break for lunch so Michelle looked up from her computer and decided to take a break. She picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey its me" she smiled softly.

He grinned, "Hey sweetheart, how's it goin?"

She rolled her eyes "Eh… a busy day with all the new formatting for this year"

He shook his head "Yea I know"

"So what are you doin?" she asked.

He smiled "Not much"

"I can hear in your voice that you're smiling" she smiled.

He laughed, "I just bought your birthday present"

"Yea?" she smiled "Can you give me a hint?"

"No cause you'll guess it"

"No I won't" she insisted.

"Yes you will, you always guess it" he chuckled.

"I'll have to look for it tomorrow when you're at work"

"You'll never find it" he smiled.

"We'll see about that" she smiled. She saw someone walking toward her desk "Ok I gotta go… I love you"

"I love you too baby, talk to ya later" he said hanging up the phone and smiling up at Gina "She has no idea"

_(4 hours later)_

'3 hours to go' Michelle thought as she worked.

"Michelle… Mr. Chappelle is here to see you" Chloe said to Michelle from behind.

Michelle closed her eyes for a second then spun around with a polite smile "Thank you Chloe" she said heading to the situation room where Chappelle stood.

"Hello Michelle nice to see you... Tony's day off?" Chappelle said nicely, this caught Michelle off guard and she wasn't sure how to respond.

"Yes it is," she said glancing around.

"Alright well have a seat I have a few things to discuss with you"

"Ok" She took a deep breath and smiled politely sitting down across from him.

"First off, while you two were on vacation last month I began searching for a new employee and I just finished his paper work... he starts tomorrow, his name is Josh Allen and he seems like a very smart guy"

Michelle nodded "Sounds great"

"And also we are sending you to a Disaster Control Training conference... no one in this department has this type of specific training so I've chosen you to go and get it"

Michelle sighed inwardly "Ok... where is it?"

"Baltimore"

"When and how long?"

"You leave in 3 weeks for a week and a half"

'At least I'll be home for my birthday' she thought and said "Ok so this training is mandatory?"

"Not exactly... but we'd like you to have it just in case"

She nodded and raised her eyebrows "Lets just hope I never have to use it"

_(Later)_

As Michelle drove home she thought about the trip she'd be going on. Once she pulled into the garage she parked the car and looked down at the Denali's tachometer where Tony kept a picture of them so every time he looked at his speed or how much gas he had, he would see them. She liked having pictures of them around. In this picture they were standing in front of the house with the car in the background and Tony was kissing Michelle on the cheek from behind with his arms wrapped around her and she was smiling. It was taken the day she gave him the car. She smiled and then wondered how she would break it to him that she had to go on another trip. She wanted to tell him right away, because when she told him things that bothered her she always felt better, but she didn't wanna ruin the night. Then finally she decided… she would tell him right away then immediately after that she would make love to him to help them both forget about it. She smiled at her great plan.

Meanwhile inside everyone was ready and Tony was wondering what was taking Michelle so long. Finally he signaled for everyone to wait as he went into the garage shutting the door behind him. He looked at her in the car looking at the picture. He smiled and she looked up and saw him.

"Here it goes," she said opening the door.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

She stepped out "Yea" she looked up at him as he closed the door for her, he looked so happy and she didn't want to ruin his good mood but she had to tell him. "Tony, I have to tell you something," she said, but then as he looked into her eyes all thought escaped her and she began kissing him. She decided to reverse her plans as she backed him against the wall and began undoing his pants.

He smiled and put his hands over hers to stop her "Michelle are you-"

"What is going on here?" Gina said looking at where Tony and Michelle's hands were and his half-open pants.

"Gina?" Michelle asked in confusion.

"Tony what are you doing?" Gina asked with a smile as Tony began to re-button his pants.

He smiled and took Michelle's hands "Come here you" he said leading her inside.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone finally shouted.

Michelle shook in surprise and smiled shaking her head "Thank you" she finally managed.

Tony laughed and kissed her on the side of her head "This is payback"

"I should've seen it coming," she muttered back.

Tony watched as everyone took turns to see Michelle. He decided to go into the kitchen and start serving dinner.

"Happy Birthday Michelle" Hanna said hugging Michelle as Garren continued to bark loudly, all the shouting and people had him all excited as he pushed through the crowd toward Michelle.

"Thank you" Michelle smiled squatting down to say 'Hi' to Garren so he would stop barking "Hi Gar, yes" she said as Garren licked her happily "Yes, I love you too, ok ok…go find Daddy… good boy" Michelle said sending Garren into the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday" Jonathon said hugging her "So Tony got ya huh?" he smiled.

"Yea I guess he did" Michelle nodded "It's alright… I've got a few surprises in store for him" she smiled mischievously.

Joe and Katie were next "Speaking of surprises" Joe said holding up Katie's hand.

"You're engaged!" Michelle smiled "Congratulations!" She said hugging them both.

"Thank you" Katie said.

"And Happy Birthday of course" Joe smiled.

"Happy Birthday Aunt Michelle!" two little voices yelled.

Michelle squatted down to hug Kayla and DJ "Thank you!" she smiled kissing them.

"I made you this at school" DJ said holding up a paper proudly "This is you" he pointed to a pink blob "This is me… and this is Uncle Tony"

"Who's this?" Michelle pointed to a smaller brown blob.

"Garren!" he laughed.

"Aunt Michelle I made this bracelet for you" Kayla said taking Michelle's wrist and slipping a small beaded bracelet on it.

"Wow! Thank you both very much!" she said kissing them again then standing back up.

"Happy Birthday sis" Danny said hugging her tightly and Candice was right behind him followed by many others.

_(Later)_

"Ready to do the cake sweetheart?" Tony asked Michelle as she sat out by the pool with Katie and Candice.

"Yea sure I'll help you" she said following him inside.

"I hope I can find those candles" he thought aloud as they walked into the kitchen.

"We don't need them" she said.

He looked at her questioningly "A cake without candles?"

"I've been thinking… and I don't know what to wish for anyway" she smiled "All my wishes have come true"

He kissed her "Then wish for the future, safety, happiness"

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted them on top of the refrigerator "There they are!" she said hurrying over to get them. She held them up "I know what I'm gonna wish for now"

_(Later)_

Tony and Michelle waved to the last few guests as they left and then Tony closed the door and sighed. "That was the best surprise party ever," she said wrapping her arms around him slowly and looking up at him smiling softly "Thank you sweetheart"

"Your welcome baby" he smiled kissing her forehead. It was late "You ready to go to bed?"

Michelle decided she should tell him now before he had to find out from Chappelle tomorrow.

"Tony I" she paused and looked into his eyes. He was completely happy.

"Yea? You what?"

She started to take off his shirt pushing him toward the bedroom with a smile and said "Plan B"


	81. Chapter 81 With You I'm Born Again

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Billy Preston_)

~ Chapter 81 ~

"Great" Michelle muttered in frustration "Ugh"

"What's the matter?" Tony said walking into the bathroom.

"My ring is stuck again" she sighed giving him her hand "My fingers are too fat"

He rolled his eyes and smiled up at her in amusement "Baby I've seen every part of you, and not _one_ part of you is fat"

She fought a small smile pulling at her lips then returned to her frustration "Oh come on, you know I've gained weight" she said watching him lather soap onto her finger.

"You have, you've developed some nice womanly curves, you've filled out," he said sliding the ring off her finger and handing it to her. He held her face looking deep into her eyes "And I am being _completely_ honest with you when I tell you that you are not fat, you are used to being really skinny and now you've been eating healthier foods and 3 meals a day you've grown to a healthy weight. You also have been doing a lot of training for field ops, you've developed some nice muscles and muscle is heavier than fat… So _no_ you are not fat, _yes_ you have gained weight and _of course_ you are gorgeous and should not be worried" he said kissing her "We should get your ring re-sized when you come back… you can wear it around your neck til then" he said rinsing his hands in the sink.

She looked at the ring in her hand then studied him as he rinsed his hands "Tell me something"

He looked over at her and dried his hands "Sure" he said putting his hands on his hips.

"I know you love me and you'd never want to hurt me" she said twiddling the ring in her fingers "But would you tell me if you thought something was wrong with me… like… I don't know…" she looked away and then back down at her hands nervously "if I _was_ getting too heavy or…. I don't know…" she shook her head "I was getting boring or something I was doing was annoying you… would you tell me?" She looked up into his eyes "Even if it might hurt me?"

He eyed her closely and thought, "I don't ever want to hurt you, that's true…" he nodded looking down then up at her "but I don't think I'd be able to lie to you either, you'd see through it…" he took a step closer to her and rested his hands on her hips "The answer is yes, I'd tell you… but the reality is you catch it first, most of the time before I can say a word you've already picked up on it and taken care of it," he smiled softly "Even then smallest things… like if I'm in the office and you come in to ask a question but I'm in the middle of something and trying to concentrate, before I even get a chance to tell you, you've already figured it out, so you say you'll come back in ten minutes and I don't even have to say anything"

She tilted her head "But if I ever don't? You'll tell me?"

"Yes, I will" he nodded wrapping her in his arms. Her rubbed her back to soothe her insecurities. He pulled back and looked down at her "And by the way I expect the same from you ok? If I ever need a 'wake-up' call, I'm depending on you to tell me… whether I like it or not"

"Ok" she smiled softly leaning upwards to kiss him softly.

He slid the ring out of her hand and examined "I remember when I bought this ring" he smiled "It was awhile before we got engaged… the night I decided you were absolutely the one"

She smiled at that thought "And when was that?"

"That day we went hiking" he smiled "It was such a beautiful day"

"Until we reached the top"

He nodded and chuckled "Yea… it was great… then the sky grew dark and we could see the storm coming our way fast, suddenly we we're running down the long winding path and it was _pouring_ rain, thunder roaring above us, lightning…we couldn't even see where we were going, we had to hold hands so we wouldn't lose each other"

"Until we tripped" she shook her head with a reminiscent smile "That left some nasty bruises"

"Yea…" he thought "But we pulled ourselves back up and by some miracle we made it to the bottom of the mountain And we let go hands and sped off toward where we had parked the car… until I realized you weren't next to me anymore. I stop and spin around and there you were, standing in the middle of the field smiling…

"_Michelle what the hell are you doing!" Tony yelled over the roaring thunder and pouring rain starting to walk back toward her._

"_What are we running from?" she giggled, "A little rain won't kill us"_

"_You're gonna get struck by lightning!" he called her._

_She held her hand out "Don't worry so much" she laughed._

_He finally reached her and she began pulling him back and forth trying to get him to dance with her. He watched her in astonishment and began to laugh, "You are completely nuts… you know that? People have died from getting struck by lightning"_

"_If I die right now," she said as he twirled her and pulled her close "At least I will have __**really**__ lived"_

_Tony wrapped her in his arms tight and they swayed back and forth "Loving you has brought me to life"_

"_And we're just getting started"_

_Come bring me into your softness_

_Comfort me through all this madness_

_Woman, don't you know_

_With you I'm born again_

_Come give me your sweetness_

_Now there's you, there is no weakness_

_Lying safe within your arms I'm born again_

_I was half, not whole_

_In step with none_

_Reaching through this world_

_In need of one_

_Come show me your kindness_

_In your arms I know I'll find this_

_Woman, don't you know_

_With you I'm born again_

_Lying safe with you I'm born again_

"One of the best nights of my life, if I had the ring I would have proposed to you right there in that field in the middle of the pouring rain" he thought aloud "you went home to grab some warm clothes and we planned to meet back at my house that night and eat dinner by the fireplace. I used that time to go to four jewelry stores before I found this one" he handed her back the ring.

_(__The next morning__)_

"No, no" Michelle said quickly. She leaned over Josh, their newest employee, and took over the keyboard. He watched her fingers fly across the keyboard "When you insert a new cell you have to file it in this way" she said demonstrating. He looked up at her; she was really pretty, he noticed. "And don't forget to add it to the constant watch list… right here… you pull this up…. And…" she muttered to the screen "come on…" she said watching the screen intently. He looked down at her hand for a ring and was surprised and happy to see that there was no ring on her finger.

He finally returned his gaze to the screen "I'm sorry if I messed it up"

"No it's ok," she said quickly not looking away from the screen "There we go" she said pointing to the screen. She stood up "There are just some important things you need to learn before I leave… this is one of them"

"How long will you be gone?" he asked.

"10 days… and in that time I'm gonna have to rely on you to keep up on some things like this… Tony will be here to help you, but he doesn't have time to do everything"

"I think we'll be fine"

"I'm sure you will" she sighed, "I just don't want anything to go wrong"

_(Th__at__ night)_

Michelle rushed back and forth throwing a few last minute things into her suitcase "Got my hair brush, phone charger…ooh forgot a towel" she mumbled to herself as Tony watched leaning against the door with an amused half-smile. She got back to her suitcases then spun around and hurried back over to the bathroom. As she hurried back to her suitcase Tony caught her by the arm and pulled her in close "Your making me dizzy" he chuckled with his face buried into her neck taking in the scent of her hair.

She welcomed this embrace, she wasn't ready to leave him, but she had to go soon. "I just wanna go and get it over with so I can get back home," she said softly.

"I wish it worked that way" he smiled pulling back and looking down at her letting her go but then stopping her "Wait a second" he smiled "Where are you going with my toothbrush?"

She looked down at the toothbrush "This one's mine" she said.

"Really?" he looked at it, "Oops, well I've been using it"

She smiled and shook her head "Well I guess you'll get a chance to break yours in now"

"Great"

"My ride should be here any minute," she said zipping her suitcase.

"I could have driven you," he said taking her bags for her.

"Ryan had it all set up"

"How nice of him" Tony rolled his eyes as the reached the bottom of the stairs the doorbell rang.

Michelle looked up at Tony with sadness. He put the bags down slowly and pulled her into a tight embrace. She closed her eyes and tried to listen for his heartbeat as she laid her head against his chest but it was drown out by the sound of Garren's barking at the door. She soaked in this moment as Tony ran his fingers through her hair and breathed softly in his ear. She pulled back enough to lean up and kiss him softly. The doorbell rang again and they pulled back slowly "I have to go"

Tony smiled at her obvious statement and opened the door to the agent, handing him her bags. "Have a great trip baby," he said kissing her one more time.

"I'll call you when I land" she said flashing a small smile at him as she got into the SUV.

He nodded and waved with a smile calling Garren back in to the house. Garren did one last lap around the car then ran toward Tony, stopping to watch the vehicle pull away.

"Come on buddy, looks like it's just you and me tonight" Tony said leading Garren into the house.

_(The next afternoon in Baltimore as Michelle arrived)_

"Michelle Dessler" Michelle said.

"CTU LA?" The woman with the clipboard asked.

"Yes"

"You're late" She said looking up at Michelle through glasses. The woman was short and looked cranky.

"One of my flights was delayed due to a storm," Michelle answered apologetically.

"Well, because you're late, it looks like you will have to share a room, the others are full" she said in a completely fake tone.

Michelle turned her head in confusion "I registered in advance," she narrowed her stare "My room should have been reserved"

"I gave it away to someone who registered later but showed up _on-time_…we usually get a few extra rooms for that purpose, but with funding cuts we are trying to save money," she said spitefully, clearly enjoying her power.

"Ok, I'll pay for my room then… it's no problem" Michelle said.

"This is a _very_ expensive hotel" the lady said with a smile "And besides I'm only authorized to do the billing through the department which means I'd have to bill your office" she shook her head pretending to care.

"That's no problem" Michelle smiled confidently "Would you like our billing address?"

"I'm not so sure your director is going to be very happy about getting a huge hotel bill because you choose to be difficult"

"Well I am _absolutely_ sure he will be happy to take care of it" Michelle smiled…this woman obviously didn't realize who she was dealing with "Or I could call my superintendent and go right over your head to relinquish my room, which you mistakenly assigned to someone else… he certainly will not be happy to hear about this seeing as he is the one who reserved my room … unless you'd like to argue this matter with him?"

The woman glared at her "Well since your director will be so happy to foot the bill, why shouldn't I have you upgraded to the nicest room?" she snipped calling Michelle's bluff.

"I would accept that as compensation" Michelle smiled.

"I will get right on that and make sure the bill is sent directly to your home office"

"You do that," Michelle said heading into the conference.

_(Late that night)_

Tony lay on the couch flipping through channels when his phone rang "Almeida" he said not even looking at the cell phone.

"Hey it's me"

"Hey baby" he smiled sitting up.

"I just got to my room" Michelle explained "I would have called earlier but I had to go to this kick-off meeting"

"How is your Class A hotel room?" Tony chuckled.

"She contacted you already?" Michelle laughed.

"Called me an hour ago" Tony smiled "Told me you were _demanding _a special room"

"Yea?" Michelle laughed "All I _politely requested_ was the room Ryan reserved for me when I registered… she just liked _thinking_ she had any power over me… I can't stand people like that"

"I could tell she was trying to get you in trouble by the way she kept repeating the price of the room and how I would have to foot the bill"

"What did you say?" Michelle smiled.

"I reprimanded her for being incompetent and not even being able to do room assignments correctly and told her the bill was absolutely no problem…wired her the money right over the phone and told her to make sure you were comfortable in your new room and to personally make sure that you encounter no further problems"

"I _love_ you" she smiled.

"No one messes with _my_ wife" he smiled.

"I wasn't trying to be high maintenance, but I'm up all night when I'm away from you and I don't want to have to tip-toe around or have to leave the room to talk to you"

"I know Sweetheart" he said, "Speaking of which, you should try and get some sleep, you've had a long trip"

"Yea" she agreed with a yawn turning off her light and laying down "I'm so tired"

He loved being the last voice she heard every night, listening to her fall asleep over the phone calmed him and was one of the only reasons he was able to sleep the little he did at night when she was away. "Goodnight Sweetheart"

"Goodnight, I love you"

"Love you too," he said listening to her breathing slow down. After a few minutes she was asleep and he heard his phone beep as the call ended.

Tony opened his eyes ten minutes later and sighed. It had felt like an hour when it had really been 11 minutes. He turned over and tried to get comfortable but it wasn't happening. As he laid there he heard a faint crying sound. He immediately sat up. He listened closely and followed the sound, it was coming from downstairs. He slowly crept down the stairs and stopped when he realized what the sound was. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. He went to the front door and there was Garren... he was sitting in front of the door staring at the doorknob crying for Michelle.

"Sorry buddy, but it's not gonna happen" he gave a small smile.

Garren barked at the door in response.

"She'll be home next week" Tony said turning back toward the bedroom "Come on Gar"

Garren looked at the door then Tony.

"I know how ya feel" he said waving Garren on "Come on let's go" he said and Garren slowly followed him up the stairs. A few minutes later Tony was sighing again as Garren cuddled up next to him in bed.

_(A week later)_

Tony stood in the center of the bullpen at CTU. "This is what we know about the Rizlor cell. He pointed to the screen listing the attributes of the terrorist cell. We've intercepted chatter from the east coast saying there are threats going around about the possible release of anthrax to an unknown, likely eastern target. The threat is under our jurisdiction, but not in our easy reach. CTU DC is heading up the investigation, but we have had a slow week so I figured we could help since this cell does have some western connections and it's good practice. Department heads will give assignments; I wanna see reports on my desk in 1 hour."

"Hey Tony" Josh said hurrying behind Tony as he turned away.

"What's up?" Tony spun around.

"I was just wondering how I access the cross-referencing function for the cell profiles," Josh said.

Tony walked over to Michelle's station and logged in. "Watch" he instructed showing Josh the steps "Go here… click this… it should be right…." He said watching the screen "Here" he said pointing, "There you go… got it?" he asked.

Josh smiled "Yes thank you… can't wait until Michelle gets back, things will definitely go a lot smoother"

"Definitely" Tony said logging back off of her terminal.

"How's her training going?" Josh asked casually.

"Great… she says she's learning a lot and she wants to start training people in our office when she comes back… she's got one more day of instruction then she starts on her way back"

"Nice" Josh said with a smile.

"Chloe I need to see you up here a minute" Tony said waving Chloe to follow him upstairs to his office.

A minute later Chloe came into the office "Yes?"

"Umm, are you busy?" he asked looking through his desk drawer.

"Of course not" she said sarcastically "What do you need?"

"I need someone I trust to go my house and get my wallet and badge… I really need them but I forgot them and I can't leave because of this situation-"

"You're a mess," Chloe grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Tony said.

"With all due respect" Chloe said slowly "…You're a mess"

"In what way?" Tony said leaning back on his desk.

Chloe gave him a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' she rolled her eyes and said "Off the record?"

"Of course" he gave a small amused smile.

"You're hair's a mess, your shirt is all wrinkled, you forgot your wallet" she shook her head "_and_ you're always on-time to work… which is weird"

Tony gave a small chuckle and looked at the floor. He looked up at Chloe then over to the picture on his desk of he and Michelle. He looked back up at Chloe shaking his head "2 more days and it'll all go back to normal"

"Oh believe me I'm counting down the days"

He chuckled "That makes two of us… don't worry about the wallet… I'll send someone else to get it," he said standing up.

"No, it's ok… I don't mind," she said heading back down to the bullpen.

Tony walked over to the locker in the corner of his office to look at his hair. She was right… damn. Tony sat back down in his chair and glanced again at the picture on his desk. He had never been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, but Chloe was very observant and knew them well... no one else seemed to notice anything different.

Tony's phone rang breaking him out of his thoughts. He turned around and picked up the phone "Almeida"

"Tony it's Josh… something big just came in on the anthrax threat, we need you on the floor"

"I'll be right down"

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle watched closely at the slideshow the instructor was reviewing how to properly quarantine a building, and the exact procedures for how to deal with uncooperative occupants trying to break the perimeter.

An armed agent rushed into the room and called the instructor into the hallway. Everyone looked around wondering what was going on. Michelle felt her phone vibrate and she pulled it out and read the message 'Anthrax has been released in a elementary school in southern Maryland, further threats have been made against the White House… we are working parallel to CTU DC to help the investigation, please be careful, can't wait for you to come home:)' the text said.

Two agents walked in. "Please quiet down" one said "We are asking that all Level 4 and above personnel who are trained in field operation please meet in the first floor lobby right away"

Everyone looked at each other and Michelle stood. Everyone watched closely as she picked up her purse and walked out of the room. When she got down to the lobby there were approximately 30 people standing there. After a few minutes the same agents stood in front of them "If you are here it means you have been identified as a Level 4+ field agent" the man announced "There has been a disaster in Maryland. There are serious threats being posed against the White House and we need all available hands on deck. You are all just a few classes away from being certified in Disaster Control. If you so choose, we would like you to come with us to Washington DC to prepare for the worst… in this way you will complete your training just like the others… we are requesting your help, it is _very_ important. Please make your decision fastidiously and if you plan to go forward to Washington please come this way and we will brief you and get you ready to go"

Michelle saw many a few people walk the opposite way and she thought. She wanted nothing more than to just go home and be with her husband in LA far away from this, but she couldn't help the nagging thought that maybe she could help. They really needed her and it was her job to help. She slowly walked toward the agents and took a deep breath ready to do whatever she needed to.

_(30 minutes later)_

"You _better_ be kidding" Tony said in a panic as he walked out of the bullpen into an empty hallway.

"I'm not…" she looked down at the floor of the van "Tony they really need my help"

"They _have_ agents Michelle!" Tony said in frustration "I'm sure they would be fine with one less agent"

"They are already spread thin with the school situation Tony, and they need people trained in disaster control… they need experienced field agents… they need me"

"And what about me? What about what I need? I'm your _husband,_ you were supposed to leaving tonight to come home!"

"Tony I understand why you are upset, but this is something I have to do"

"No, you _don't_ have to"

"Tony…"

"_No_. This doesn't make sense… you are on the other side of the _country _and purposefully…_voluntarily_ putting yourself in harms way for no reason when you should be coming home"

"Slow down" she said "Take a step back and get some perspective… I'm doing _my job_, I will be home as soon as I can and you know that…and you would do the same thing in my position… you're tired and stressed out and I understand that, but try and see the situation from where I stand"

"Listen up" the agent in the front of the van said.

"I have to go" Michelle said lowering her voice, "I love you… you know that right?"

His frustration began to melt and he sighed, "I know" he rubbed his face "Call me back"

"I will" she said and hung up.

Tony sighed and scratched the side of his face. What was she thinking? He thought. He just wanted her home and safe. He would've done the same thing, he knew, but he didn't like her doing it. Did that make him selfish? Maybe it was because, to him, her life was more precious than his own. He ran his fingers through his hair. He shouldn't have yelled at her. If she wanted to do this he should be supporting her not trying to fight her. Chloe walked up to him.

"Here you go," she said handing Tony his wallet and badge.

"Thanks Chloe" he said taking them as something fell out of his wallet. He picked it up and smiled softly. It was a picture of him and Michelle outside of a concert she had wanted to go to, she had such a beautiful smile he loved this picture, which is why he always kept it in his wallet.

Chloe started to walk away "By the way" she said turning around with a pout on her face "_Thanks_ for telling me you guys have a dog" she rolled her eyes and walked back out to the bullpen.

"Listen up!" Tony said entering the bullpen "We have a new objective"

Everyone turned around and listened intently.

"One of our own, Michelle Dessler, is on her way to DC to help prevent these attacks. She may be working with the offices down there, but she is _our _agent and we will support her with _everything_ we have. I want real-time _full _communication with her from start to finish…. Everything she needs we will supply…. Everything from Intel to transportation… _she_ is our priority. Everything she does relays through us… Let's show the east coast how we do it in LA"

"Tony" Chloe called from the side.

"What?" he answered.

"It's Michelle on line 2" she said.

"I'll take it in my office" he said heading up the stairs.

When he got into his office he picked up the phone "Michelle?"

"Hey"

"Look… I'm sorry I yelled…" he sighed sitting in his chair "You just worry me that's all… and I haven't completely been myself the past week without you… but I love you"

"I know," she said softly "So… you're not mad at me?"

"Baby I'm never mad at you," he said with a sigh "I was just scared and frustrated because I miss you… I didn't mean to yell at you, you've done nothing wrong"

She let out a sigh of relief "I feel so much better hearing that"

"Then you'll feel even better hearing that our entire office is backing your operation… I'm having Comm. set up communication straight to your person… we will be right with you everywhere you go through this… anything you need, we are listening"

She smiled and tears stung her eyes "Thank you" she lowered her voice "I wish I could kiss you right now"

"Me too baby" he sighed "Hopefully this will be over soon and you can come home"

"I hope so" she said, "We're getting ready for a briefing"

"Ok honey, we'll be in touch"

_(Later)_

"We have good reason to believe that the anthrax is already in the building, we are now preparing for a full-scale evacuation"

"That doesn't make sense" Michelle said "They will just release the chemical and be able to escape in the chaos and we will have no further leads to stop these people _and_ they will have done their damage"

"What do you propose?"

"Quietly do a east to west comprehensive search from the bottom up… announce that the threat has been passed so the hostile doesn't feel time pressure while keeping secret service alert."

"They are watching all the exits from the outside for search teams, they are not blind"

"They are only watching the exits that technically exist… their alternate ways of entering the White House that they won't know of" she said pulling up the map on her PDA as Chloe uploaded a classified diagram of an underground entrance to the white house.

"Sounds like a plan"

_(Later)_

Michelle signaled for everyone to stop as Chloe spoke into her ear "There is a person coming around the corner to your left…looks like the hostile, take caution, he's armed with a pistol, you should have a visual in… 4… 3…" Michelle pointed silently to where the person was coming from, the agents behind her nodded and they aimed their guns.

They jumped out and trained their gun on him and Michelle pinned him to the wall and then jumped back "Hands OFF!" she yelled putting her hands in the air as she saw his finger on the trigger arming the dispersal device.

Everyone raised their hands as she did and backed up. "I'll do it" he warned with a wicked smile.

"Agent Dessler, orders from the Director of CTU DC are stand down" One of the agents said after hearing the message through his comm.

Tony came through her Comm. "hold your ground Michelle give us a sec"

Michelle held her ground. "Dessler back off!" The agent behind her screamed, but Michelle stood still as she watched the man continue to arm the device

"You better listen to them before you get yourself and everyone in this building killed"

"Michelle, it's Tony we did a trace…that man is a decoy… I repeat he is not in possession of the substance… immobilize him then move on down the hall to your right is a door…"

Michelle lifted her gun "Dessler stand down!"

She shot each of his legs "Stay here with him" she ordered running down the hall.

"What the hell?" another agent yelled "Where are you going?"

"The code to the door is 4539" Chloe said into Michelle's ear. Michelle burst through the door with her gun ready to fire. No one was there, just a dispersal device counting down. 3 minutes left.

"He wasn't even willing to die with it… he was gonna escape and leave it here to kill everyone"

"You have a visual Michelle?" Tony asked.

"Yes" she said naming the type of device it was.

"Ok, I'm pulling up the schematic now" Chloe said.

"Michelle, make sure the door is locked behind you" Jack said into the Comm. "You need that room secure" he advised "Draw any blinds from windows that outsiders can aim a sniper through"

Michelle did so and got ready to disarm the device.

_(A few minutes later)_

"…Ok… now touch the two green wires together to short-circuit the timer…" Chloe said.

Michelle did as she was told and Tony held his breath listening closely to the feedback.

The ticking stop and the timer switched off. Michelle closed her eyes with a huge sigh of relief until suddenly the door burst in from behind her and a team came running in. She threw herself down with her arms in clear view.

"Hands where we can see them!" the agent yelled needlessly.

"It's disarmed!" Michelle yelled.

"You disarmed it?" the agent asked.

"Yes" she answered, "We need a HAZMAT team to secure the vile and we need to sweep the rest of the building for any more of these"

"You heard her! Let's go!" he called.

_(Later that day)_

"Almeida"

"Hey it's me," Michelle said.

"Hey you" he smiled affectionately.

"The crisis is over, I'm on my way to the airport" she smiled tiredly.

"I know I heard how amazing you were" he smiled "In fact, I got 3 phone calls and 6 e-mails about the outstanding job you did"

She smiled, "Yea" and she yawned, "But I'm so tired"

"We were able to get you a direct flight back so you'll be home by early in the morning"

She closed her eyes and smiled at the thought of home "I can't wait"

_(The next morning)_

Tony watched out the window waiting for the black vehicle to pull up. Garren sat watching him wondering what in the world he was doing at 4 in the morning at the window. He saw the car coming down the street and hurried out the door. He met the car at the curb and couldn't fight the smile on his face as he pulled her luggage out of the trunk and watched her get out. She looked up and their eyes locked and they both smiled. She looked exhausted. Tony thanked the driver and carried her things inside. The second the door closed behind her he pulled her close kissing her softly, but the passion soon began to rise as they both came to full terms with how much they missed each other.

Her fingers ran through his hair and over his face, which she had missed so much and fell asleep picturing for the past 10 days. He slid his hands over her soft body and pulled her as close as possible to feel her as much as possible, he needed to re-connect with her and he suddenly felt like he could never get close enough. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him.

A sudden rush of adrenaline had her pulling off his shirt as he carried her up the stairs. He smiled against her lips amazed at how she had absolutely no energy, yet, like him, her need to feel close to him came before anything else… even the sleep she hadn't had for 10 days. He laid her down and helped her undress as he cradled her down into the pillows. He began pushing against her slowly and gently. He wasn't sure if she had any injuries from the mission so he took it slow.

"Tony…" she cried in agony.

"Baby am I hurting you?" he asked softly.

"You're _killing _me" she pleaded, "More… please…" she said holding tight "I need you, _please_" she called out.

Tony was more than happy to comply.

Minutes later they were tangled together as their breathing slowed.

"I _really_ missed you" Michelle smiled stroking his face.

"I know me too" he said, "I hate when you have to go away"

She nodded "I hate being away from you… but," she sighed "I had to do my job"

"And you did a damn good job" he smiled.

"You too" she smiled softly.

"Well I've been told I haven't exactly been at the top of my game" Tony said with a half-smile... she was the only one he'd admit his weaknesses to.

She looked up at him slightly concerned "Why what's the matter?" she asked "Everything ok?"

He pulled her close to him "It is _now_"


	82. Chapter 82 Everyday Love

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 82 ~

"Tony?" Michelle said "Tony come in? Tony are you there?" she said as worry crept into her voice "Tony do you copy?" she turned to her Comm. group "Where is he? What happened?"

"Looks like the signal is being jammed" Chloe said watching the screen and typing quickly "I think someone's jamming the communications"

"We need another team there now… this place is a major hot zone… we can't afford to lose this fight… how far out is Jack?"

"50 minutes" Chloe said "He won't make it in time"

"Get Ryan on the phone, I have to take a team out… get me a working protocol with a new frequency" she said taking off her ear piece and heading off to get changed.

_(20 minutes later)_

"Michelle this has got to stop" Ryan said rushing up to the vehicles as the teams "I can't keep running here from Division to babysit CTU while all my senior officers are out in the field"

"Then get us someone who can do the job…" she said checking her watch "it's very rare that all 3 of us are out… but it does happen… I have to go"

"All right… we'll figure something out" he said.

_(Later)_

Michelle led a 5-man team down a completely dark tunnel. They couldn't risk bringing in light for fear of warning the hostiles. They walked carefully and Michelle whispered into her Comm "Do we have any traces of movement ahead?"

"Yes but its odd… I'm not sure how many there are so be careful"

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony stepped carefully, he had lost most of his team and was in danger being by himself. He felt a door and pushed it open carefully… he wished he could see where he was going. Suddenly he felt something brush past him, in a split second his arm was behind his back and his ankle snapped out from under him as he came crashing to the floor with someone's knee pressing into his back. He felt the cold metal of what he knew was a gun at the back of his head.

"Don't move!" he heard a voice yell.

He knew that voice all too well "Michelle?" The pressure let up a little and he felt finger run through his hair.

"Wait" her breath caught in her throat…was that?… "What?" she asked "I need light!" she called. Someone flashed a small light and found Michelle with her gun to Tony's head. She saw his face and jumped back dropping the gun. Her heart trembled and her face broke into complete horror with her arms instinctually rising up in supplication "Oh…. my..." she was breathless.

Tony let out a sigh of relief and a small smile formed at the corner of his lips at the look on her face. The team let out a quiet laugh. "I give… I give" Tony muttered jokingly trying to pull himself onto his feet.

Michelle still stood there watching him with terror in her eyes. If she had shot him he'd be dead…. By her hands….one movement of her finger and his life would have ended…. Thoughts of… her happiness… her heart…bleeding on the floor haunted her mind. She couldn't wrap her head around the thought and her heart still wasn't beating… just shaking. How close he had been to death at her hands…

Tony stumbled to his feet shaking his head ready to make another joke to make her feel better until he saw something behind her. A small red blinking light… it wasn't a CTU weapon. He drew his gun and shot at it as it got closer to them. The team spun around and took position. Tony grabbed Michelle's shoulder and forced her onto the ground as he shot over her back. "Stay _down_!" he told her as they opened fire.

_(Later)_

Tony and Michelle sat in silence in the back of the CTU SUV as they rode back to CTU. Tony glanced over at Michelle. She was tired and worn out, he could tell. It was only them in the back so he quietly slid his hand over to hers. She looked up at him and he saw her glassy eyes. He tightened his grip on her hand. "Hey" he said softly.

"I'm ok…" she said looking away. The softness in his eyes was causing her composure to disintegrate. She could not fall apart, she needed to keep her cool until after work. She closed her eyes and then looked out the window.

_(Later)_

"What happened to you?" Chappelle asked as Tony limped into the bullpen.

Jack looked over and smiled at him, he heard what happened from one of the agents.

"I'm fine" Tony said walking into the situation room.

"Wonderful well I've decided how we are gonna make sure this situation doesn't keep happening"

"What situation would that be?"

"You, Jack _and_ Michelle in the field" he said "Unless its involving national security I don't have time to be here doing this" Ryan said "Which is why I am gonna place another person with sufficient experience beneath you and I'm sending Chase for more training so he can be Jack's second and head field teams"

"This new person will be below Michelle correct? Third in command?"

"Yes, I already have him picked… someone over at CIA, his name is Gael Ortega"

"Ok" Tony said "I'll tell Michelle and we'll find him a place"

_(Later)_

"Dessler"

"Hey it's me" Tony said "I just found out this is gonna be a long night, you might wanna head home"

"No it's ok I'll stay" she said quietly.

"Baby I know you're still shaken up and you're exhausted… go home and get some rest ok? I'll be home as soon as I can, I'll feel better if you're home and resting"

"Ok" she gave in, not having any energy to argue "You're not going into the field right?"

"No I will be here" he said

"Ok I'm gonna head out as soon as this frequency scan finishes"

"Alright honey" he said hanging up with a sigh. He really wanted to find out what was eating at her, she had been so quiet… he really wished he could head home with her.

Ten minutes later she appeared in his office "Hey, I'm on my way out, just came to say bye" she said quietly.

"Com'ere" he said waving her toward him as he sat on his desk. The glass was darkened so she stepped closer to him. He pulled her into a hug "Are you ok?" he asked in a low tone into her ear.

Her walls shook, but she would have to walk back through the bullpen and now was not the time for it "Its just…" she struggled to think of how to explain herself without getting too emotional "I scared the hell outta myself today, that's all" her eyes got glassy but she blinked it away and pushed the lump in her throat back down.

"I will be home as _soon_ as I _possibly_ can ok?" he said stroking her cheek. Before kissing her forehead and watching her leave.

_(3 hours later)_

Tony quietly entered the house, if Michelle had fallen asleep he didn't want to wake her. He walked quietly into the bedroom and she rolled over. "Hey" she said softly.

He smiled softly and walked over and sat down on the bed next to her "Hey Sweetheart, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No I wasn't asleep" she said as he kissed her forehead.

He could tell she was still upset from whatever was bothering her "I'm alive, it was an accident" he told her.

"Its that time of month so maybe I'm just overly emotional today but… Tony" Her voice grew heavy with emotion as she was on the verge of tears "You were a split second from an accident that would have costed us _everything_… one wrong move and I'd be planning your funeral right now…" she began to cry "I was scared and I couldn't see the person so I was gonna shoot them just to be safe since it was dark… I was so close to-"

He gathered her into his arms "Hey" he said softly holding her tightly "Hey its ok"

"And then I can't help but think that every single time I make that split-second decision to shoot or not that there is a woman, a family, behind every single person I kill"

"That's why we kill only when we have to, when we have no other option because they have made it that way… Michelle you don't shoot people for no reason, I know you don't… you have very good judgment, that's why I'm alive… I literally trust you in a dark tunnel with a gun to my head and this is exactly why" he said pulling back so he could see her face "You saved my life today… if you had sent someone else, they may not have had your good judgment" he explained "But it's over now, everything worked out… now we move on and make the best decisions we can in the future"

"Your right" she said thinking "If someone else had led the team…" she looked up at him "I'm so glad it was me"

"Me too baby" he smiled kissing her "except now everyone thinks I'm a wimp for getting beat up by my wife" he chuckled.

She smiled "I'm sorry, how's your ankle?"

"Sore, but it'll be fine… it's the same one Jack took out, I hope it's not sprained" he said with a sigh "don't worry it won't even slow me down, I'm tough like that"

"Yea?" she smiled.

"Yea, I'll prove it to you"

She smiled and kissed him as he began to take his pants off.

_(The next morning)_

"Michelle..." Tony said kissing her shoulder... they had forgotten to set the alarm and she was gonna be late. He looked at her... his baby, so soft and perfect... he stroked her face...'another 30 seconds won't hurt' he smiled.

He spent the next 30 seconds soaking her in. Her warmth, her breathing, her heart beating and the soft glow of her content smile as she slept without a care as she laid wrapped in his arms. He knew she would be worried and begin to rush around the second he woke her up so he decided to give her a few more seconds of peace.

"Michelle..." he kissed her "Sweetheart you're gonna be late"

Her eyes open lazily at first and then shot open "We forgot to set the alarm" she whispered quickly.

"I'll take the blame for that" he smiled cupping her face and kissing her softly.

She kissed him then quickly rolled out of bed. She looked over at him as she thought about his last comment and threw him a smile then headed into the bathroom.

He smiled and laid back down listening to her move around in the bathroom "What fun is having the day off without your best friend?" He thought aloud. She smiled softly as she brushed her teeth. "What am I supposed to do with myself all day?"

She came out of the bathroom and rushed across the room into the closet "Why don't you see what Gina's doing?" she called from the closer "We haven't seen her in awhile" she came out of the closet in black pants and a bra "I've actually been meaning to call her… I'm getting worried"

He smiled at her "Your cute"

She rolled her eyes and smiled as she buttoned up her shirt "Call Gina" she said tossing him the phone from off the dresser "And Garren needs a bath"

Tony groaned and rolled over into his pillow "Maybe if he would stops rolling in dirt…" he mumbled.

Fifteen minutes later he felt Michelle roll him over. He looked up at her. She was all dressed with her hair and make-up done. He smiled, she smelled so nice. She leaned down and ran her finger down his cheek "Be good." She smiled "Enjoy your day off" she kissed him softly "I'll see you later"

He wanted to pull her down into bed with him and hold her close all day, but he knew she had to go "Alright baby, have a good day" he smiled sleepily.

Can't get enough of this everyday love

Each morning the sun shines through my window  
Lands on the face of a dream come true  
I shuffle to the kitchen for my coffee  
And catch up on the front page morning news  
Then she walks up behind me and throws her arms around my neck  
Just another normal thing I've come to expect

It's ordinary plain and simple  
Typical, this everyday love  
Same old, same old… keeping it new  
Emotional, so familiar  
Nothing about it too peculiar  
Oh, but I can't get enough  
Of this everyday love

Every afternoon I make a phone call  
Listen to the voice that warms my heart

_I drag myself through a few more hours  
Then head on home to try and beat the dark_

_Her smile will be right there when I step through that door  
And it will be that way tomorrow, just like everyday before_

Wouldn't change one single thing about it  
No, it's run-of-the-mill, still I can't live without it

Can't get enough of this everyday love

A few hours later Tony was struggling to get Garren into the tub "Come on buddy, it's just like the pool… you like the pool" he said trying to lead Garren into the tub "Don't be scared, he pulled the dog by his collar but Garren stood his ground the best he could. Tony sighed nudging the dog again.

The phone rang.

"We're not finished here," he told the dog as he headed out to get the phone "Hello?" he answered.

"Uncle Tony?" he heard a little voice say.

"Yes" he smiled "Is this Kayla?"

"Yes… is Aunt Michelle there?" she said, Tony heard yelling in the background.

"Uh no, she's at work sweetie… everything ok?"

"Mommy and Daddy are fighting" Kayla sighed, "Me and Danny want Aunt Michelle to come get us"

"I can come yet ya" Tony offered.

"Ok" she smiled.

"Can I talk to your Mommy or Daddy?"

He heard the girl run into the room as the yelling got louder then quieted "Who is it?" he heard Candice ask.

"Uncle Tony" Kayla chirped.

"Tony?" Candice said.

"Hey, everything ok?" he asked.

"Yea… me and Danny are just having a disagreement…it happens from time to time, no big deal…what's up?" she sighed.

He raised his eyebrows "I had the day off and was wondering if I could take the kids off your hands," he said.

"Really?" she said "That would be great… they're on spring break and driving us nuts"

"Yea no problem"

25 minutes later Tony was buckling Danny into the back seat of Michelle's car "There ya go buddy"

"Can we go see Aunt Michelle at work?" he asked.

Tony smiled "No, our work is not a good place for kids, but she'll be home later" the kids looked sad "But" he said getting their attention "I do need your help with a mission in the meantime"

They smiled "what is it!"

_(An hour later)_

Michelle looked at the clock and decided to call and see how Tony was doing. Tony emerged from the bathroom drenched in suds as Garren ran out the door. The kids were right behind him laughing, "Yay we did it!"

Tony shook his head and answered the phone signaling for the children to stay quiet. "Hello?" Kayla and Danny covered their mouths to hold in their giggling.

"Hey, it's me"

"Hey baby, what's up?" he said softly.

She sighed, "Busy day… Ryan's here for some reason" she groaned and then sighed and lowered her voice "I just needed to hear your voice"

His heart melted at her words "I love you"

"I know" she smiled feeling better "So… how's it going with you?" she asked.

"Uh…" Tony smiled at the kids who were watching intently "Everything's great… just hanging out at home… alone… with nobody else around" he said happily causing the kids to turn red while trying not to laugh out loud.

Michelle raised an eyebrow "Yea?"

"Well… except Garren of course," he admitted.

"Right" Michelle said slightly confused "Something I should know?" she smiled.

"You'll find out soon," he teased.

She warned, "If it's another surprise party-"

"It's not" he stopped her with a chuckle.

"Ok" she said with a small smile "I'll be home as soon as I can"

"Alright baby, see you soon"

As soon as he hung up the phone the kids bursted out laughing. "We are gonna surprise her big time!" they cheered. Tony smiled, she'd be happy to see them he knew it.

_(Later)_

"Tony?" Michelle called dropping her keys and purse on the table next to the door. She could smell dinner and music was playing softly throughout the house. "Sweetheart I'm home" she called.

"In here" she heard him say from the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen to see dinner prepared and on the table with steam rising from the spaghetti "4 plates?'

"Surprise!" The kids crawled out from under the table and attacked Michelle.

She stumbled backward as the both jumped into her arms "Hey!" she smiled in surprise.

"We got you!" they giggled.

"Yeah you did that was funny," she told them.

"We made you dinner!"

"How thoughtful" she smiled

"Uncle Tony even says I'm a better cook than _you_!" Kayla announced with pride.

She let out a laugh "Wow! That _almost_ sounds like a compliment" she laughed looking up at Tony.

Once dinner was over the kid ran into the living room to watch TV to avoid the dishes. Once they were out of earshot. Michelle turned away from the sink and caught Tony's arm as he cleared the table. She pulled him toward her and kissed him as soon as he was in reach. He put the dishes down and pulled her into his embrace.

"I missed you today" she said softly against his chest and then pulled back to look up at him "What made you get the kids?"

"They called" he said with his signature half-smile.

"Really? Just out of the blue?" she laughed.

"Well they called for you… they wanted you to come get them… apparently Danny and Candice have been arguing and they wanted to get out"

Her smiled faded "Is everything ok?"

"I think so" he said "When I went there they weren't at each others throats, nothing thrown or broken… probably just having a disagreement"

She sighed looking away "He's gonna ruin this again"

"Michelle" he said with a small smile lifting her chin toward his "It's just a disagreement… every couple does it" he stopped and his smile grew "Well most couples anyway"

She smiled and kissed him "I really missed you" she said laying her head on his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers. "Hey guys!" Kayla said from the doorway "We picked out a movie!"

Tony and Michelle broke apart and went back to cleaning "Yea?" Tony asked clearing the dishes off the table "What's it called?"

"Fluffy's Big Adventure!" she cheered.

Michelle smiled at Tony "Uncle Tony couldn't wait for that one to come out"

Kayla ran to living room to go get ready for the movie, once she was gone Tony groaned "Look at what you got me into"

"What? You don't do cutsy little kid movies?" she smiled.

"Michelle" he said "I'm a man"

"Well consider this practice for someday when your daughter wants you to watch a princess movie with her" she said kissing him softly.

"Oh" he smiled "I see" he wrapped him arms around her and kissed her "Ok, you talked me into it"


	83. Chapter 83 The Sky's the Limit

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jason Derulo_)

~ Chapter 83 ~

It had been an awful night. She thought for sure she had been falling in love with him and then all of a sudden she saw another side of him. The cab pulled up to her favorite place. She stepped out of the cab and looked up at the warm beautiful inviting home before her. Gina was exhausted and needed to feel safe. She thanked the driver and quietly opened the door with the key and fingerprint scanner. She opened the door and smiled at the scent. She turned the lights on as she made her way up to Tony and Michelle's bedroom. She peaked in. They were deep under the covers but she could tell from their bare shoulders that they weren't dressed. She rolled her eyes and headed down the hall to her guest room. As her head hit the soft pillow she was fast asleep.

_(The next morning)_

Tony heard the alarm sound and groaned. He turned it off and pulled her body in closer to his soaking in her body warmth. Today it was her turn to stay home while he had to go to work. He buried his face into her neck the combination of her soft skin and lovely scent tranquilized him.

Ten minutes he felt someone poking him. He flinched and heard giggling "Toooony" she said "It's time to wake up"

"Quit poking me woman" he grumbled fighting a smirk.

"But you have to go to work" she smiled softly moving her face so close to his that their noses were touching.

"I have more important things to do" he said.

"Like what?"

"Like spend the day in bed with my beautiful wife"

She smiled "As much as I'd love that" she kissed him "They need you at CTU"

He made a grouchy face which turned to a smile right as her lips met his. "You know, people try to make marriage sound boring like 'You have to wake up to the _same_ person _every day_ for the rest of your life' but honestly" he brushed a curl behind her ear "I can't think of _anyone_ else I would want to wake up to poking me and calling my name"

She smiled and kissed him "You're adorable" she said holding his face "But it's _still_ time for work"

"Ughh" he groaned rolling onto his back and getting up "You are no fun" he joked walking toward the bathroom.

She laughed watching him "You tell yourself that"

_(A few hours later)_

By 10AM Michelle had the house full of her music as she sang

"_Yeahhhhh_" she sang

"_Like a shock, to my heart  
When I saw you tonight  
Like a dream come alive  
For the very first time_"

Gina opened her eyes. Was that Michelle singing? She smiled and pulled herself out of the bed. She liked the sound of Michelle's voice as she continued to sing

"_When we touch, in the dark  
Baby you're blowing my mind  
Wish I could freeze you and me  
In this moment in time_"

She wondered what Tony would say if he saw her. She smiled as she crept down the stairs listening to Michelle

"_You got it, what I want  
Give it up, shorty  
Step it up, for me  
and I'll give you everything  
All my life, All my love  
I give you my fortune and fame  
I'd even give you my name_"

Garren watched her wagging his tail as she sang while she folded laundry

"_You take me hiiiiiiiiigher  
Than I've ever been before  
My feet don't touch the floor  
We'll Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_-"

Gina touched her shoulder and she jumped and her back flew against the wall in instinct. She looked up to see Gina. Her face was white and the wind had been taken out of her. She covered her heart with her hand as she struggled to force air into her lungs. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Gina apologized feeling awful, Michelle looked terrified for a split second.

Michelle was still catching her breath. She held up a finger indicating for Gina to wait a second. She spoke in heavy quick breaths "You are so lucky I didn't have anything in my hand… you… _cannot_… sneak up on me like that…ever again…" she said rubbing her face.

"I'm sorry… I slept here last night and I just heard you singing" Gina smiled

Michelle's face dropped "Sorry you had to wake up to _that_" she laughed nervously reaching for a bottle of water.

"You're not a bad singer" Gina said and Michelle rolled her eyes. Gina sat at the counter "What's that song called anyway?"

"Sky's the Limit" she answered "So what's up? I've been meaning to call you… everything ok?"

Gina's smile faded "Uh… no" she said looking down at the counter in front of her.

Michelle put down her water as she stood on the other side of the counter and watched Gina "Jason?" Michelle guessed.

Gina looked up with sad eyes "Yea" she said "but I don't really wanna talk about it"

Michelle nodded "Ok, you don't have to… I'm sure you didn't come here to have it pulled out of you"

"I came here because this house is full of love and happiness… its safe here… I love it here" she said with a small smile.

"Well you're always welcome" Michelle said touching her hand "Whatever is bothering you will come out on its own at some point, but in the meantime I think the bathroom needs painting"

"Already?" Gina asked.

"Why not?" Michelle shrugged "Painting is relaxing and I like redecorating"

"Me too"

"Let's do it"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Good morning everyone" Tony said as the morning briefing began "As you all know today we need to do a full-scale refresh…its routine most of you know how to do it, but some of you are new…it shouldn't take long. Prep for it includes saving and closing of all scans and programs, the refresh itself will begin this afternoon, let's get this done and over with so we can all get outta here on-time… I don't know about all of you, but I have plans tonight" everyone smiled. "By the way" he said as they all started to leave "I want to introduce you to our newest team member… this is Gael Ortega… he'll be our new third-in-command, while Michelle supervises all projects he will be monitoring all Intel departments… make him feel at-home… thanks" he said dismissing everyone. Chloe raised her hand "yes Chloe?"

"Who do we report to first? Gael or Michelle?"

"Small technical details and problems go to Gael, don't bother Michelle with them… but if she does step in, what she says goes… for question or problems regarding active protocol or projects you go straight to her, if she's not available you see me"

People began leaving as Jack smiled "Big plans tonight?" some people turned nosily to listen.

Tony noticed his audience and smiled "Taking my wife to dinner"

"Ahh" he smiled "That reminds me, how's that ankle of yours?"

"Funny Jack, real funny"

As Gael left the room he caught up with Josh "Hey" he said.

Josh looked over at him "Hey, Gael right?"

"Yea" Gael said "Just trying to catch up and feel my way around a little"

"Oh don't worry you should slide right into things... I've only been here a few months, but everything seems to run really smoothly, you'll like it"

"What's Tony like as a boss? I've heard some good things"

"Well I'm still learning… I didn't even know he was married til just _now_" Josh laughed "But he's great… he's strict enough that things run smoothly and everything's lined up but he's easy going and very easy to get along with… he likes us to act like a team"

"What about Michelle? What's she like?"

"Like Tony, she's great… very smart, very nice and one _hell_ of an agent" he smiled in admiration "She's even kicked _Tony_'s ass... that's what the ankle jokes are about… so if she's pissed you do NOT wanna mess with her, but she's fair and like Tony, very easy to get along with… they have been known to go good cop, bad cop on you, but she and Tony are _very_ in sync, you ask them both the same question and you'll _always_ get the same answer, so you've got a good set of people above you… except Chappelle" he shook his head.

"Oh I know _all_ about him" Gael smiled.

_(Later)_

"Ooo I love this color" Gina said as they stirred the paint.

"It's even nicer than I thought" Michelle smiled beginning to paint.

"So how's work been?" Gina asked.

"Interesting" she laughed. She decided to steer conversation toward men to maybe encourage Gina to talk. "So there is this guy named Josh who we work with" she shook her head.

"And?"

"And I'm pretty sure he has a huge crush on me" Michelle said.

Gina raised her eyebrow "uh doesn't he work with Tony too?"

"Yea"

"So… what? I'm confused, he doesn't care that you're married?" Gina laughed "How does someone spend any amount of time with you two and still think they have any chance with you?" Gina smiled "Because anyone who sees you two together can easily see how in love you guys are"

"I don't think he realizes we are married because at work we do our best to hide it and be professional" Michelle said "Plus he's pretty new so he hasn't seen us that much especially cause of that long trip I took"

"Right" Gina said "And you hide your ring too?"

Michelle raised her left hand to show she wasn't wearing her ring "I grew out of it so I was wearing around my neck when I was away for a few weeks since he's been here away and since then it's been at the jeweler getting re-sized… actually I need to call and see if it's ready…"

Gina rolled her eyes "That's so funny… I still can't believe he can't tell… so you gonna tell him?"

"I feel bad" Michelle giggled "I think when my ring is done and I go back to work with it on he'll just figure it out"

"Let me know how that works out" Gina smiled "You'd be surprised how dumb men can be"

Here it comes Michelle thought as she continued "Oh?"

Gina looked over and sighed "Jason" her smile faded as she focused on her painting "Last night we were having a good night… we went and saw a movie then went back to the my apartment to hang out, had some ice cream that's been sitting in that freezer since you guys lived there"

"That chocolate fudge stuff?" tried to remember.

"Yea" she said "Anyway as we were like halfway through the ice cream we started fooling around" she dipped the roller into the paint and began painting again "After a while it started to get more serious… and I don't know… it got weird…. Like we weren't both escalating it… I was a little uneasy and he seemed to get pissed that I wasn't 'all about it'… he got rougher about it as if I'd get over it if he ignored the problem… it was like he didn't even care how I felt he just wanted sex and that was all that mattered and I got upset and started yelling at him, but he was ignoring me so we had a fight and I left"

"You left your own apartment?"

"Yea… I just needed to get away from him and he said he wasn't leaving" she said "So I came here"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Michelle asked softly.

"You guys were sleeping, not dressed and I didn't want Tony to run over there and beat him up… I just wanted to feel safe and forget it" Gina said.

"Ok" Michelle said "if you didn't wake us up because you didn't want to talk about, that's fine… but other than that you could've woken us up… we'd get dressed and I can handle Tony"

"Ok" Gina said "thanks Michelle" she hugged Michelle.

"Anytime" Michelle smiled softly "Like _really_ anytime" she said as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered it "Hey Sweetheart"

"Hey baby, how's your day off?" Tony smiled.

"Great, Gina's here" Michelle smiled.

"That's great" he said "I called to ask you, since I'm closing all your projects for the refresh… what's this project IPSec?"

"Oh… I was just testing an idea I had"

"If it is what I think it is, it's amazing" he said looking at the files on his screen.

"It's for ensuring dual security streaming between two devices, it's a brand new design I came up with… you think it's good?"

"Honey it looks outstanding, you should pursue it and bring it up with division" he said "We might be looking at a breakthrough in IP security"

"Really?" she smiled.

"Really, I'll back you on it"

"Ok" she bit her lip "I'll start working more on it as soon as I get back"

"Ok… I'll be heading out soon…. Ok so I'll talk to you later"

"Ok, see ya soon honey" she said hanging up.

_(Later)_

Tony was on his way out when he noticed Josh by his car which wasn't starting "Ya need a ride home?" Tony asked walking up behind Josh.

"Uh yea... my car is..." he smiled nervously.

Tony chuckled "Yea I used to have one of those" he said leading Josh through the cars "Unreliable, breaks down, flat tires in a storm"

Josh laughed "Yea sounds like mine"

The Denali lit up as they walked up to it "This one" Tony said opening the door.

"Wow!" Josh said "This is so nice! A big step up from flat tires in storms"

Tony chuckled as he turned the key and the engine roared to life "Yea Michelle bought it for me for my birthday"

"Michelle?" Josh asked in confusion.

"Yea... I think she was tired of it breaking down and falling apart too... in fact that night when I got the flat tire in the storm she tried to help me fix it and this huge trucks passed..." he chuckled at the memory "we were soaked and we were on our way for her to meet my parents for the first time"

"Michelle Dessler?" Josh asked.

Tony stopped and looked over at him "Yea... who else would I be with?"

"You two are together?" he asked as he felt his heart break.

"She's my wife" Tony said with a smile "You didn't know that?"

"No" Josh said getting quiet.

"Everything ok?" Tony asked realizing he was quiet.

"Yea" he said "Just surprised because no one ever mentioned it."

"Turn left" the GPS announced.

Josh looked up at Tony as he drove. He looked calm and relaxed in his big, cozy SUV. He had every reason to be happy Josh thought. He gets the power, the car and the perfect woman... Josh would give anything to be him. Josh looked at Tony's hands... one was hanging from the steering wheel and the other one was steering. Josh imagined what those hands had done... he imagined those hands holding Michelle's... those hands touching her face... sadness washed over him as he realized those hands had probably wandered all over her beautiful body, which he had only dreamed of... Josh looked out the window in sadness.

"How long have you two been married?" Josh asked in a fake light tone.

Tony glanced over at him "Uh... coming up on a year"

Josh nodded his head "Nice..." he thought, "Why didn't she take your last name?"

"She did" Tony said "Legally she's Michelle Almeida but at work we keep it Dessler to avoid the confusion of two 'Agent Almeida's"

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out"

"It means we're doing a good job of keeping our relationship out of the office... its actually a good thing... she'll be happy, she's always worried about keeping our personal lives separate from work" Just then his phone began to ring so he answered it not looking at it as he drove "Almeida" Josh watched him... the other person said something and he smiled softly "Hey sweetheart what's up?" as he listened he checked the road and made a right "Oh great..." he smiled softly "Because you and Gina doing construction unsupervised just seems Idonno know... dangerous" he rolled his eyes "Your only re-painting it? ok that's better... yea yea yea I remember the shed... I am not saying _I_ should be supervising... just maybe someone... what color you painting it?" he asked "As long as it's not pink... of course... what do you need me to pick up? ...How many rolls? ...Ok yea I'll get it right after I drop Josh off... yea his car broke down... yea... uh huh" he laughed "yea I know... ok baby I'll see ya when I get home... Love you too"

he closed the phone and put it down "They're re-painting the bathroom" he shook his head "The house is less than a year old and already they're redecorating" he chuckled.

"You're really lucky" Josh said simply.

"I am" Tony nodded.

_(20 min later)_

"Baby I'm home" Tony said as he came in the door. Garren came galloping up to him, umping up on him and licking him "Ugh…Gar… ick, ok I love you too, but you are not the one I was calling for" Michelle came around the corner "Ahh" he smiled opening his arms "here she is" he wrapped his arms around her kissing her head.

"Hi honey" she said as they pulled back "Did you get the painter's tape?"

He held up the bag "Here you go"

"Thank you" she kissed him and took the tape heading upstairs to get changed.

Gina came into the room "Hey Gina" Tony said with a smile giving her a hug. He turned and began going through the mail "So any particular reason you scared my poor wife half to death this morning?" he asked with an amused smile.

She laughed and then her smile died.

Tony looked over at her and noticed something was wrong "What's the matter?"

Gina explained to him what had happened.

"I'll be back" Tony said turning to get his keys off the table.

"What are you doing? You're not going to his house! You don't even know where he is" Gina said following him.

"This is what I do for a living… no matter where he is I will find him" he said turning toward the door.

Michelle crossed his path as she went to the kitchen, but when she heard the arguing she caught his arm "Tony" she asked softly "What's going on?"

He didn't want to look at her… he knew her eyes would calm him and make him think clearly but he didn't want to think clearly… he wanted to beat the snot out of that punk. "I will be back soon and then we can go out to dinner ok?" he said looking down at his keys.

"Tony just let it go" Gina said.

"No I can't, what he did to you was wrong and you are my family… I cannot just let that go"

"Please, just leave it alone"

"I _can't_ do that!"

"You can! If you could let Jay go after everything he did because Michelle wanted you to, you can let Jason go because I want you to"

Tony looked over at Michelle for some sort of guidance, because now he was angry and lost and unsure what to do. Her eyes calmed him as she said "Let it be" she took his hand and led him into the living room "Whether he knows it or not, losing his chance with Gina is worse punishment then beating him up... ok? So just give yourself time to calm down" she said softly touching his face "In the meantime… take me to dinner" she said with a crooked smile.

His anger fought the smile tugging at his lips "Ok" he said quietly.

"I'll meet you in the car" she said stroking his arm before he headed out to the car. She turned to Gina "He'll be fine… you want us to bring you something back?"

"No, I'm good"

"Ok, call if you need us" Michelle said hugging her.

_(Later)_

"If he's that much of a jerk I don't know why she cares so much if I go rough him up" tony muttered as he drove.

"She just wants it to be over"

"I can't stand the thought of him getting away with it" he said angrily.

"Let it go… let's talk about something else" she said "How was the refresh?"

He was distracted "Let's go, I just want to talk to him" he said changing direction.

"No!" Michelle said "What about Gina? No Tony"

"Gina doesn't even have to know"

"Tony" Michelle said, then Tony turned the car around "_Tony_!"

"It'll only take a minute"

"Tony Almeida pull this car over _now_!" she yelled "Now! I am SO _not_ kidding with you!"

He pulled over into an empty parking lot. "Listen Michelle" he said as she took off her seatbelt "All I wanna do is-" Michelle climbed over the seat so she was in his lap facing him with her legs around his "What are you- Michelle?"

She took his face in her hands "Listen to _me_" she said and he felt his anger disappear as he couldn't help but smile as this beautiful woman sat straddling him trying to get his attention "You are _not_ going to see Jason… _you_ are taking me to dinner, _straight_ to dinner… no more talking about Jason, no more thinking about Jason… from this point on…no more Jason… he's not worth it … _I_ am the one sitting between your legs… I deserve your attention, not him"

He pulled her closer "Well I guess I can't argue with that logic" he smiled kissing her.

"Now promise me… no more Jason" she said. He thought for second and she shook her head "I am not moving until you promise"

He chuckled "So this is punishment?" he said sliding his arms around her.

She smiled at his smile "Can you believe the ridiculous things I do to get your attention?" she said indicating to how she was sitting.

He smiled "No more Jason… I promise, but" he said holding her by the hips "that doesn't mean you have to get off me" he smiled "In fact, I think we could make this fun"


	84. Chapter 84 Fallen

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jason Derulo_)

~ Chapter 84 ~

"Ten more minutes"

Tony shook his head "You're obsessive"

"Ten more minutes" she said.

"You said that an hour ago…"

"Just ten more minutes"

"Michelle…"

"Just ten more, I promise"

"Fine" he rolled his eyes "I'm counting" he said leaving her typing away on the computer.

_(10 minutes later)_

"Hey are you done now?" Tony said poking his head into the study.

"Hold on one sec…"

He rolled his eyes "I'm sorry let me re-phrase that…" he said grabbing the back of her chair "You are done now" he smiled rolling her out of the room.

"Tony… oh Tony wait!" she said pulling the keyboard with her.

He stopped and spun the chair to face him. He kissed her pushing her back against the chair and slipping the keyboard out of her hands and placing it back on the desk "_You_ are coming with me"

He rolled her across the floor with a sigh until they were in the doorway of the kitchen. She smiled and looked up at him "Aww, you made lunch?" she said "I'm sorry"

"It's ok" he smiled leading her to the table "I thought if you smelled food you'd come running"

"I didn't even notice" she laughed.

"Yea… you were really into your project" he said passing her the chicken.

"I'm almost done and I have to present it to Division tomorrow" she said "I'm nervous"

"I'm sure you'll do a great job" he smiled starting in on his food. "So I was thinking today we could go to the jail"

"To visit my dad?" Michelle asked.

"I can't think of any other reason to take my wife to a jail on our day off" he joked. She laughed "I just thought it'd be nice to stop by on his birthday"

Her eyes shot up and stared at him in disbelief "Its…" she stopped chewing "no" she said.

"I saw it on the calendar" he explained wondering why she looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

She looked over at the calendar on the wall "I can't believe I forgot" she dropped her head into her hands "I've just been so busy with the IPSec project-"

"It's ok" he said softly.

She shook her head "You don't understand, I _never_ forget his birthday"

"You've been under a lot of pressure, he would understand"

"I know he would, but that's the point…" she said "When we were growing up" she explained "He didn't like his birthday… he would always pretend it didn't exist jokingly, because he never wanted to get older… if we didn't remember he would have just let his birthday pass without a word… so me, my mom and brother would remember for him and remind him endlessly and rub it in that he was getting older" she smiled softly at the memory "My mom would purposefully make a huge deal of his birthday with cakes and parties, decorations and hats… he pretended to hate it but we all knew it was his favorite thing"

"I'm not sure they're gonna allow party hats at the jail" he joked "They're sharp… could be used as a weapon"

She looked up and smiled "Yea maybe not, but we should at least visit"

"Of course"

_(Later)_

"_What_ are you doing here?" Daniel growled and rolled his eyes as Michelle and Tony walked into the room and sat across the table from him.

Michelle shot a worried look over at Tony who took her hand and gave it a light squeeze "Umm… we just were umm… well we wanted to come see you and-"

"Why? You know better than anyone else there's nothing different about this day than any other of the damn year" he said as his grouchy stare melted into a smile.

Michelle let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled. Tony did the same and laughed "That was good"

"I had ya there for a second didn't I?" he smiled lightly "It so good to see you darling" he said reaching over and squeezing her hand with a smile. Tony studied Daniel's face, you could tell by wrinkles he didn't smile much. Tony thought back to the first time he saw that face.

"_Hey you're early" Michelle smiled as Tony entered her apartment._

"_Yea they let me outta work early… its ok right?"_

_She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck "Honey you are always welcome to just show up" he smiled and kissed her._

"_But I do have to go take a shower" she said glancing at the time._

"_You do what you gotta do, I'll hang out" he smiled nudging her toward her bedroom to get ready._

"_Alright" she smiled heading off to get ready._

_He smiled and sat down on her couch. Her remote was always missing. He flipped the top of the table up to look inside for the remote when he saw an album that said "Michelle Elizabeth Dessler" He smiled and pulled it out. He opened to the first page to find a picture of her as a baby. He chuckled at her big brown eyes and lack of hair. A man who had to be her father was holding her proudly with a huge smile on his face and an arm around a woman in a hospital bed who must've been Michelle's mother. He flipped through the pages watching her grow. She had been an adorable little girl. He smiled, she had always had curly hair but her hair was more of a reddish color when she was young and turned darker as she grew he noticed, but she always had those big brown eyes and gorgeous smile. As he got further he found pictures of her high school graduation with her friends and boys he assumed had been her boyfriends. He wasn't gonna lie, one looked like a total geek. He chuckled as he finally made it to the end where the pictures ended. Some pictures had been stuck in the book but not pasted in yet. They were pictures of her with Danny's family at what looked like a barbeque and a few of her and Tony. He smiled at the pictures, she was already adding him into her life._

"_Toooony" a soft happy voice called from the bedroom._

_The smile on his face widened and he put the album back to follow the voice. He found her in the bathroom holding the back of her dress, it was a fitting navy blue party dress. She looked hot and he couldn't help but smile at the fully grown woman version of Michelle Elizabeth Dessler. "Wow" he said "You look great" he looked into her eyes and her mind went blank at the love in his eyes._

"_I" she stopped, she was lost in his eyes "uh"_

_He realized what was happening and smiled "Did you need help?" he asked pointing to the zipper._

"_Oh" she looked and remembered "Yea… yes please" she said turning so he could help her._

"_There" he said running his hand down her side and pulling her closer kissing her._

_She kissed him then pulled back with a smile "You ready?"_

_He raised an eyebrow "For a night out with your girlfriends?" he asked "Baby I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for that"_

"_Well get ready" she smiled "Cuz they're gonna love you" she laughed._

"_They're gonna love me huh?" he smiled opening the car door open for her "Well then you're gonna have to break it to them that I'm already taken"_

_You are the one_

_Who makes it worth getting up in the morning.  
I'd trade the sun_

_For the chance to show you I'm all in.  
_

_Put me to the test_

_I'll prove to you I'll never be a heartache.  
Cause you're the best, you deserve the best._

_Now I can't predict what the future holds,  
But I'll fight forever to keep you close.  
_

_I'm telling all them other girls_

_And everybody around the world,  
I told you girl I'm not ashamed I'm fallin, fallin, yeah._

_I'd give it all up baby,  
Trade in the world to show I'm fallin, I'm fallin yeah.  
Don't need the fame or money, as long as I got you girl  
I'm fallin_

_I'm fallin  
_

_So tell all them other girls I've __**fallen**_

Tony came back to reality as he heard Michelle's voice "Happy Birthday Dad" she smiled.

"Ugh" he groaned rolling his eyes fighting a smile "So this is what you do on your days off? Come harass old men about their birthday?"

They laughed "You're not quite an old man _yet_"

"If 56 isn't an old man, I don't know what is" Daniel said shrugging his shoulders.

"60 and up is old man in my opinion" Tony decided "And even then you're not old enough to retire"

Daniel chuckled "So…" he said "What _do you_ do on your _other_ days off?"

"Uhh" Tony and Michelle glanced at each other knowing the truthful answer wasn't an option.

"Sleep" Tony answered quickly.

"Laundry" Michelle said at almost the same time.

Daniel shook his head "Laundry huh?" he laughed "Keep doin that laundry and I'm gonna have grandkids soon"

"We'll see what we can do" Tony smiled.

"Anyway" Michelle said trying to change the conversation "Kayla and DJ are doing great, we saw them the other day"

Daniel smiled softly "That's great" he paused "I haven't seen your brother" he sighed "Last year he came to tell me he was having all the utilities turned back on at the house and he was planning to live there"

"A lot has happened since then" she said "I'll have to bring him sometime"

"That would be nice" he said with a sigh "I know it may seem sad, but this" he indicated to their conversation "Is what keeps me sane… knowing there are normal people out there who love me… it's all that keeps me from going crazy like the rest of them… jail… I don't know… it changes you, for a while I was hard and angry like the rest, but ever since you two came into my life and started visiting, it's like I have something to live for… I don't know"

Michelle smiled "Someday you'll be outta this place"

Tony laughed "Chasing your grandkids at your birthday party"

_(The next morning)_

"Ok so laptop, HDMI, notecards… notecards? Crap. Where are they?" Michelle said rushing around the office.

"You don't need the notecards you can literally do this presentation in your sleep" Tony smiled standing in the doorway ready to leave "In fact, I heard you mumbling it at about

4:30 this morning"

She stopped and looked up at him "You're kidding"

"I'm really not… I only made it through the second and third pages of your agenda before I fell back asleep, but it was all verbatim"

She let out a laugh and rubbed her forehead "I hope this goes well, I'm so nervous"

"Sweetheart" he said holding her by her shoulders "If I thought you weren't ready I would have stayed up all night with you last night practicing your speech, but I made you sleep because I _know_ you're ready. Trust me, I would never let you fail, so if I tell you you're gonna do great, I'm serious" he said holding her face "You will impress the hell out of them, I know it"

She stood on her toes to kiss him softly "Thank you"

She pulled back and smiled at him and he looked over out the window then back into her eyes and grinned "…and your notecards are in the top drawer" he chuckled.

Her jaw dropped and she hit him in the arm as he continued to laugh "Oh you're _real_ funny"

He snickered hurrying out "I'll be in the car" She shot him an annoyed look followed by a reluctant uncontrollable smile.

_(Later)_

He answered the phone at his desk "Almeida"

"Hey it's me"

"My favorite voice to hear when I pick up the phone" he smiled as he transferred the call to his cell and signed off his computer.

"Mine too" she smiled "Guess what"

"What?" he smiled.

"They loved it" she said with excitement "It was great"

"I told ya" he chuckled "Congratulations baby"

"Thank you… you know I'm not usually a good public speaker, but you gave me confidence… and… well that was a huge factor and so I wanna thank you"

"You can thank me later" he smiled.

"Ok" she laughed "You coming to get me?"

He smiled "Baby, I'm already half way there"


	85. Chapter 85 Just a Dream

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Carrie Underwood_)

~ Chapter 85 ~

"Dessler"

"Hey Sweetheart" Tony said into the phone as he sat back on the couch watching TV with Gina.

"Hey" she smiled softly "I'm almost outta here" she said looking down into the bullpen.

"Alright you wanna order in for dinner tonight?" he asked.

"Sure I'll pick something up on my way home… Gina staying for dinner?" she asked closing the file cabinet then sitting back down at his desk.

"No" Tony said making a face at Gina "She has a _date_"

Michelle began to log out but stopped "Yea?" she cancelled it "What's his name?" she asked as she entered the people searching program.

She hadn't said a word, but he knew "I love the way you think"

"I know" she smiled.

"His name's Riley… some kid from her Calc class…" he said knowing that'd be enough to find him.

"I'll see what I can do" she smiled.

Tony smiled "Ok baby see ya soon" he said closing the phone.

Gina watched him close the phone "What? Are you guys losing it?" she asked "No 'Goodbye's or even an 'I love you' when you hang up?"

"Nope" he smiled "We're so good that I don't even have to say it, _she knows it_" he said standing up and stretching "Don't you have a hot date to get ready for?"

_(An hour later)_

Michelle walked in the door struggling with the bags of food and laptop bags. Tony rushed over and took the things from her, but before he stepped away she leaned in and kissed him "Thank you"

He smiled "How was your day?"

"Pretty good, but there's something you need to see" she said pulling the laptop out. They sat down with their dinner and the laptop.

Michelle pulled up pictures of Reilly with other girls "But what does this really prove? So he's dated other girls…big deal?" Tony said.

"Right. Dating other girls….three within the past week by the way…. Yea that's good but uh" she clicked another picture "That one's his wife"

"Wife?" Tony said with surprise "How olds this kid?"

"25" she said "But what's important is I doubt Gina knows about this"

"He picked her up" Tony said already knowing her plan.

"Let's do it"

_(20 minutes later)_

Reilly reached over the table took Gina's hand in his "You're really special, you know that?"

Gina smiled and felt her phone buzz. She pulled the phone out of her purse under the table with her free hand. It was a message from Michelle. She opened it and a picture of Reilly and a girl popped up, underneath it said "Wifey" Gina smiled at both the caption and how ridiculous the situation was. Another message buzzed in "We're out front" Gina smiled.

Gina pulled her hand back "Excuse me a sec" she said taking her purse. She headed toward the bathroom then cut behind a row of table to the entrance. She spotted the Denali and got in "Thanks guys"

Michelle smiled and looked at her in the mirror "Any time"

_(Later)_

"I have to do this"

"Tony…" Jack said sadly.

"If I don't thousands of people will die… as much as I want to live, I don't know if I could live with myself if I just let them die… and this is the only way to save them"

"If you do this there is absolutely NO way you'll make it out alive… you will not survive this… you understand that right?"

"I understand completely but I can't live knowing I could have saved all those people"

"I just don't want you to do something that will be regretted" Jack sighed.

"I won't be around to regret it" Tony looked down.

Jack nodded "But _she_ will" he said. Michelle watched the conversation unfold in a small dark room as Tony prepared to end his life to save those people. She squirmed as she longed to reach out and touch him but she couldn't. She couldn't speak, all she could do is watch and listen.

His voice became hoarse and faint full of emotion "You tell her I _love_ her… more than _anything_"

"I will" Jack said. Michelle wanted to scream, but she was silent.

Suddenly someone spun her around. It was Liz, she was dressed in all black "I'm so sorry for your loss" she said hugging Michelle who was now in a dimly lit church. Behind her Michelle could see a congregation of people she knew dressed in black "I can't even imagine what you must be feeling"

Michelle stepped back and put her hand on her chest, she could no longer feel her own heartbeat. Suddenly the air felt like it was getting thinner and she couldn't breathe fast enough. She looked around in terror "Where is he?" she asked frantically "What... What's going on?" She looked up at the front and saw the casket. She began walking backwards shaking her head in disbelief as tears began rolling down her face. She felt something behind her and she spun around.

It was Jack. "He died quickly, no pain"

"No" she said in a whisper.

_The preacher man said let us bow our heads and pray  
Lord please lift his soul, and heal this hurt  
Then the congregation all stood up and sang the saddest song that she ever heard  
Then they handed her a folded up flag  
And she held on to all she had left of him  
Oh, and what could have been  
And then the guns rang one last shot  
And it felt like a bullet in her heart_

Baby why'd you leave me  
Why'd you have to go?  
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know  
I can't even breathe  
It's like I'm looking from a distance  
Standing in the background  
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now  
This can't be happening to me  
This is just a dream

She was back in the dark room watching… Tony looked up at Jack with tears in his eyes "Tell her I died quickly, painlessly… tell her not to be sad, tell her to live her life and be happy because I will always be with her." He wiped a tear from his eye "Tell her _she_ _made my life worth living_ and I will wait forever for her…"

"NO!" Michelle screamed waking herself up. Her eyes shot open. Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. It was a dream. She closed her eyes, she hated nightmares… wait…. She could still hear crying… she opened her eyes and looked over at Tony. They were always completely entangled in each other when they slept but right now he was curled into a ball on the other side of the bed. She crawled over to him and peaked over at his face. He was sweating and very upset, but fast asleep "Tony" she shook him.

"Say please" Tony smiled as he drove down the highway.

She laughed "Please"

"Pretty please?" he asked just loving her smile.

She rolled her eyes and smiled with a sigh "Pretty please" He looked over and there it was, the smile he loved…. it vanished "Tony!" she screamed.

He looked forward to see a truck merging into their lane. He cut his wheel and jammed on the break, but it was too late.

Beep. Beep. Beep. He could hear the heart monitor beeping indicating his heart beats but he felt as empty as could be. They had come in a few hours ago and told him she was dead. He had screamed, he had cried and now he was utterly silent.

"Mr. Almeida" the doctor said timidly opening the door.

Tony shot a furious look at the door and turned away, he didn't want to even see the man's face.

"It's time to take you to pre-op" he said quietly.

"Don't bother" Tony said.

"I know you're upset but without this surgery you will bleed out and die in the next few hours" the doctor urged walking over to him.

"Sounds good" he grumbled.

The doctor laid his hand on Tony's shoulder "Tony-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Tony pulled away.

He raised his hands and stepped back "You really think dying sounds good?" the doctor asked in frustration.

"Well it's either that or go home without my wife…. So yea… I think a few more hours of this is all I can take anyway" he said laying back down.

"You have to let us operate"

"I don't" he said. A few seconds later he heard the door opened. Suddenly he felt a soft touch. He wasn't sure how to respond. The soft hand began shaking him gently "Tony" he could hear but it sounded like it was a million miles away.

As Tony struggled back and forth in the bed Michelle continued to try and shake him awake "Sweetheart wake up"

Tony's eyes shot open. He looked utterly confused.

"It was just a dream" she explained softly.

Relief flooded through him and he took her face and pulled it into his kissing her with so much passion she went weak but he held her. He pulled back just enough so he could breathe. He ran his fingers down her face over her soft skin. He looked down as her breasts moved up and down to show she was breathing he put his hands over her left breast and he could feel her heart beating. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes "You wouldn't believe the dream I had" he said.

"Wait til you hear mine" she said sadly.

"You had a nightmare too?" he asked with surprise.

She nodded sadly as her eyes filled with tears.

"I died?" he asked stroking her cheek.

"Yea" she took a deep breath trying not to cry.

He took her hand and put it over his chest so she could feel his heart beating "I'm here"

"Me too" she smiled softly slowly leaning in to kiss him. He kissed her softly "No more sleeping apart"

"Ok" she broke into pained laughter "and that's the last time we watch a psycho thriller right before bed?"

He sighed and chuckled "Uh yea"

She settled onto her back and stared up at the fan "I don't know if I can fall back asleep now… the fear….the adrenaline rush…"

"I think I have an idea" he said with a smile pulling himself up and pulled her under him.

"You think you can take advantage of me because I'm vulnerable and full of energy?" she smiled as the soft light of the moon shone in her eyes and she began taking his boxers off.

He wrapped her in his arms and whispered in her ears "All I know is I never wanna let go"


	86. Chapter 86 Just the Way You Are

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Bruno Mars_)

~ Chapter 86 ~

Tony was fast asleep. The bed was soft beneath him and he could feel the warmth of Michelle's breath on his face. He felt her move slightly causing him to open his eyes. When he opened his eyes he saw her gazing up at him. He raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the clock '1:32' he looked back into her eyes.

She was smiling at him "Hey" she said softly, stroking his face.

He smiled "Uh… hey?" he chuckled, "Whatcha doin?"

She giggled "Nothing"

He shook his head "What about sleeping?" he asked wondering what was going on.

"I was thinking"

"About?"

"It's raining" she pointed toward the window with a content smile.

He looked "Yup" he confirmed looking out the window "That's definitely rain… are you ok?"

"I love the rain…you know why?" he raised his eyebrows and she smiled "Remember what you told me on our wedding day about the rain drops?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course I do" he smiled back tucking one of her curls behind her ear.

"That's why I love rain" she said with a dazed smile.

"That's why I love rain too" he smiled kissing the side of her head "I love you more than the sunshine and the rain because you are precious and I'm so glad you shared that with me baby… but you know what _else_ I like? Besides rain?"

She looked over to him with a small knowing smile "Sleep?"

"Uh huh" he chuckled.

"Me too" she said snuggling closer to him.

"Ok" he said rubbing her back. He watched her eyelids, they were still open and gazing out the window with a soft content smile.

She looked up at him "I thought you were going to sleep?"

"Not without you" he laughed "We have a long day tomorrow and I need to make sure you get enough sleep" he smiled.

"Ok" she smiled closing her eyes "There I'm going to sleep"

"I'll know by the sound of your breathing when you are really asleep and I'll be right behind you" he murmured burying his face in her hair.

Within minutes they were both sound asleep.

_(The next day)_

_Ding-Dong_

Garren ran toward the door barking loudly. "What's that?" Michelle asked Tony as they finished spreading the tablecloths over the tables.

Tony looked at his watch "Uhh either liquor or the cake"

"Ok, I'm gonna go unload the rest of the groceries, you got it?"

"Yea" he said hurrying into the house to get the door.

Tony opened the door to find Jack and Kate "Hey" he said.

"Expecting someone else?" Jack said reading his reaction.

Tony smiled and rolled his eyes "I was hoping you were the liquor delivery"

Jack chuckled "I hope you ordered a lot"

"Don't you worry" he said leading them through the house "How are you Kate?"

"I'm fine, this is a _beautiful_ house Tony" she said.

"Thank you" They walked into the kitchen where Michelle was putting away groceries "Jack and Kate are here"

She spun around "Hey! You guys are early"

"We wanted to see if you needed any help" Kate smiled.

"Everything's actually going pretty smoothly" Tony said "This is the first party we've actually planned together… every other party at this house has been a surprise party for one of us" he smiled.

"Well it was really nice of you guys to suggest a CTU end-of-summer barbeque"

"It'll be nice to have everyone together when we're all not stressed out… hell maybe even Adam will lighten up…" Tony said.

"Don't hold your breath" Michelle smiled.

_(Later)_

A few hours later the house and yard were full of people drinking, eating and having fun. Tony had prepared all the food himself and everyone loved it. All their co-workers were finally getting some fun and relaxation together outside the stress of work.

Michelle walked over and sat down at a table on the deck with a group of people.

"Hey Michelle" they greeted

"Great party" Ron said.

"Yea and such a beautiful house, I didn't know you guys made _this much_ money" Kate laughed.

"Yea I guess I need to talk to Chappelle about getting a raise" Jack joked.

"Oh and tell Tony all the food has been great" Kate said "His potato salad is even better than_ mine_" she laughed.

"You a good cook?" Ron asked Kate.

"Oh yea I cook ziti, chicken parm, steak, potatoes, shimp, _everything_, he loves it" she pointed to Jack with a warm smile.

"It's really nice to get to come home and enjoy the food that she put her heart into… it really is _so_ much better than going out"

Michelle listened and regretted that she couldn't cook for Tony. She walked over to where Tony was grilling. She came up behind him and snuck her arms around him.

"Hey you" he said affectionately.

"Hey" she smiled up at him "You want me to take over so you can relax?"

He chuckled "That's ok baby, we wouldn't want our first CTU barbeque going down in flames"

"I can do it" she insisted.

"You can cook?" he smiled with one eyebrow raised.

"No…" she said dropping her stare.

"What's the matter honey?" he said turning toward her.

"I wanna learn how to cook" she said.

He smiled and crossed his arms in front of him, this was a surprise "Why?"

"So I can cook for you like other women do"

"You don't have to cook for me" he shook his head with a soft smile.

"Wouldn't you like to have a woman who can cook for you?"

He smiled and reached up to caress the side of her face "All I want in a woman is everything that you are" he said softly "If you want to learn to cook, ok… but do it for you… I don't want you to change for me, because I love you so much just the way you are… no other woman… I don't care how well she cooks…could ever replace you…ok?"

Michelle smiled and kissed him as a small tear escaped but she brushed it away and let out a small laugh.

"Woohoo!" someone said as they kissed.

Michelle pulled back slowly and blushed. Tony smiled down at her kissing her forehead "Take a few minutes" he said softly and she smiled and headed into the house "And Roger you better pipe down over there or I'll make your burger _special_"

"Or even worse" Jack joked "He'll take away your beer"

Roger looked shocked and frightened "I'll just take it home with me then"

"Not happening" Tony said flipping the burgers "Michelle already confiscated your keys, you're not going anywhere til you're sober"

"Ahh lighten up Tony, have a drink, you haven't had one drink, I thought you'd be drunk with the rest of us"

"Ehh, I'm not a big drinker, plus I gotta watch over you mo-mo's but yea I'll have one later"

As Michelle walked through the kitchen where a group of girls were hanging out Chloe stopped her "Michelle are you ok?" she asked

"Yea I'm fine, just need to run up to my room for a minute" she smiled.

"Why are you crying?" she asked.

"Uh no, I'm fine, they're good tears, I'll be right back" she said heading upstairs.

_Oh her eyes, her eyes_

_Make the stars look like they're not shining_

_Her hair, her hair_

_Falls perfectly without her trying_

_She's so beautiful_

_And I tell her every day_

_Yeah I know, I know_

_When I compliment her_

_She wont believe me_

_And its so, its so_

_Sad to think she don't see what I see_

_But every time she asks me "Do I look okay?"_

_I say..._

_When I see your face_

_There's not a thing that I would change_

_Cause you're amazing_

_Just the way you are_

_And when you smile,_

_The whole world stops and stares for awhile_

_Cause girl you're amazing_

_Just the way you are_

_Her lips, her lips_

_I could kiss them all day if she'd let me_

_Her laugh, her laugh_

_She hates but I think its so sexy_

_Oh you know, you know, you know_

_I'd never ask you to change_

_If perfect's what you're searching for_

_Then just stay the same_

_The way you are_

_The way you are_

_Girl you're amazing_

_Just the way you are_

_(Later)_

They were all sitting by the pool in the dark with the soft glow of the candles and backyard lights around them. Michelle yawned and looked down at her watch "Wow its almost 2AM, we really need to get the kids out of that pool"

"Ahh leave 'em they're happy" Fran (a girl from Comm.) said as her 2 boys played in the pool. One of them let out a high-pitched scream.

Michelle jumped and looked over "Are you ok?" she yelled.

"He's fine… that was a happy scream" she taking another sip of wine "I can tell all the screams apart, excited, surprised, happy, hurt… you'll see when you're a mother"

Chloe nodded "I just can't stand that high pitched scream"

You mean that shrieky scream like "Ah!" Gina screamed in a high pitch.

"No I think she means like… Ah!" Fran screamed with a laugh at Chloe's annoyed expression.

"Check this one out…Ah!" Jack screamed in a high pitch.

Tony laughed "Haha Jack screams like a girl!"

"I do _not_ I was just demonstrating" Jack said defensively.

"I hate you all" Chloe said massaging her temples.

"Michelle you try" Fran giggled wanted to annoy Chloe further to see what she'd do.

"Uh, no thanks" Michelle laughed "You people are all drunk and-"

"Oh come on" Gina laughed "Do it for Chloe"

"_Don't_ do it for Chloe" Chloe said shaking her head.

"Do it! Do it!" the girls chanted.

"Go easy guys" Jack said to quiet the chanting "Maybe she's just not a screamer"

"I _beg_ to differ" Tony laughed.

Michelle slapped him on the arm "Ok that's enough, Almeida, upstairs" she ordered "Kids! Time to get out of the pool" she called "Let's go everyone its bedtime" she smiled helping them into the house.

_(Later)_

"What's that smell?" Michelle asked as they laid down in bed together at 2:30am.

Tony laid on his back in his boxers with his eyes closed "Michelle there are 17 drunk people in this house right now, all the Febreeze in the world couldn't kill that odor"

"Maybe I should go open some windows" she mumbled starting to get up, but he caught her wrist and gently pulled her back.

"Maybe you should come snuggle with your husband who has missed you all day" he smiled pulling her into his arms "We can air out the house in the morning"

She smiled and pulled the covers over them "You missed me today?" she asked "We were together all day" she giggled.

"I missed this" he said stroking her cheek "This closeness when we're together alone and I can touch you and kiss you and wrap my arms around you without people cheering"

She laughed "Yea… I miss this all day too" she said kissing him softly.

He held the back of her head to keep her face as close as possible to his so that their lips were still barely touching "You know something? Throughout my life I've always been told…and even believed… that nothing in this world is perfect…until moments like these came along"


	87. Chapter 87 I Need You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _LeeAnn Rhimes_)

*Heyy sorry this took so long, college is killing me haha… this is gonna be Part one of a 2 part story line… I think, I'll try to have the next piece up soon

~ Chapter 87 ~

"Are you ready yet?" Tony called to the bathroom door as he checked his txt messages.

"Not yet" she called back to him as she put in her earrings.

"Are you ready _now_?" he asked a few seconds later with smile.

"Tony…" she warned watching herself fight a smile in the mirror, loving the fact that one way or another he was always making her smile.

"How about _now_?" she heard him call.

"You know what" she said whipping the door open ready to lecture him about his impatience, when she suddenly stopped and smiled shaking her head as he held out an arrangement of bright flowers. She took them slowly and stepped closer to him with a laughing smile "What are these for?" she said kissing him softly.

He pointed to the little card in the flowers that said "Michelle- Just because I love you –Tony"

"Thank you sweetheart" she said kissing him again and grabbing a last few things before heading downstairs to put them in water. She set them in the middle of the kitchen table and they headed to the car.

"Pete asked me to bring liquor, so on my way home I saw they had a stand set up with all these different flower arrangements so I stopped" Tony explained as he drove.

"You want me to sign the card for you?" Michelle said as she filled out a birthday card for Pete.

"You got him a card?" Tony chuckled.

"Isn't that what you do when someone invites you to their birthday party?" she asked slightly confused.

He chuckled "You're adorable"

"That's my line" she smiled.

"If the shoe fits" he said leaning his head to the side.

"Yea yea yea" she shook her head signing his name on the card.

_(Later)_

"You look very nice tonight Michelle" Pete said with a drunken happy gaze.

"Not so bad yourself" she joked walking over to the table where a group of women were sitting "Wow they're drunk" she said taking a seat.

"I've never seen Pete this drunk in my life" his wife, Ann, laughed… she was tipsy herself.

"Look at them" another woman said watching the men laugh in a circle around a bonfire.

"Listen to what they're saying" Ann laughed.

"None of it makes any sense" Michelle giggled "But they think it's hilarious"

A few hours later Michelle decided it was time to head home.

Michelle leaned over a drunk Tony and whispered in his ear "Sweetheart you ready to go?" as she said this Pete instinctively looked as far down her shirt as the flickering light of the fire would allow.

"I need the bathroom first" he smiled.

"Do what you gotta do" she rolled her eyes and opened her hand for the keys. Even drunk Tony still knew what she wanted and handed her the keys then got up and headed inside "I'll meet you in the car"

Michelle said goodbye to the people who were left and headed out the gate to the front yard, but Pete caught up with her on the side of the house. "Michelle" he said in a heavy drunken voice.

She turned with a smile "You need to go to bed"

He smiled and looked down at her body "Yea… why don't you come with me?"

Her smile was gone "You're drunk" she said politely but sternly "Go back to your party"

He took a step closer to her "Hows about a sexy gift from a sexy lady?" he slurred suddenly and roughly running hand up her thigh under her dress brushing over parts of her never to be touched by anyone but Tony. Her self-defense training kicked in and she went to push him, but before her hands even touched him he was flying backwards with a force she could have never caused.

"What the HELL do ya think you're doing!" Tony yelled from right behind her walking toward where he was laying on the ground. Michelle got in front of him and put her hands on his chest holding him back, which was hard because he was much heavier than she.

"Come on" he said sitting up "She woulda done it"

Tony pushed harder and Michelle was losing her grip on him. They were in the dark shadow of the house and when they got close enough Tony took a swing and instead of hitting Pete his fist hit Michelle on the side of the face near the bottom of her jaw. He stopped instantly and looked as if he had just been frozen.

"It's ok" Michelle blurted out quickly knowing how terrible he must feel "It's ok"

He couldn't feel his arm. He couldn't feel his legs. His mouth was bone dry. He couldn't speak. He couldn't feel anything except the rapid pounding in his chest.

"What happened?" Ann said running through the gate.

Michelle turned around glad the dark would hide her face from them "They were fighting, he just got pushed, he should be ok, I held Tony back, they're just drunk"

"I'm sorry" Ann apologized helping Pete up.

"It's fine" Michelle said "We're gonna go now" she said turning back to face Tony, but he wasn't there. Her heart panicked, she hurried to the driveway to see him sitting in the car staring into space. She let out a sigh of relief and got into the car. She started the Denali and drove half the ride home in silence, but it was killing her so she finally decided to speak, but had no idea what to say "It's ok" she repeated softly glancing over at him.

"It's not" he said angry with himself.

"I love you"

He sighed as a silent tear escaped. She didn't see it so she took the silence to mean he didn't want to talk. He reached his hand over to hold hers like they always did in the car, his hand landed on her thigh and she flinched.

He snapped his hand back and looked away using every ounce of his strength not to burst out in tears.

She immediately cursed herself for flinching "I'm sorry" she apologized.

"Don't. Apologize." he said his voice breaking with emotion.

She didn't know what to say to make him feel better. She knew he never meant to hurt her and she could only imagine how much pain he was in. They pulled into the garage and he got out of the car and headed inside. She rested her head back against the seat and let out a small sob, blinking her tears away. Her jaw hurt, but she wasn't mad at Tony at all, she loved him for trying to protect her and knew he loved her. She walked inside and was surprised to find him sitting in the dark at the kitchen table staring at the flowers.

"Sweetheart it's late come to bed" she said gently, but he made no move "Tony…"

"You go ahead, I'm not going" he said quietly.

He was stubborn, but she knew his needs even when he didn't and she would fight against him for his own sake, even if he didn't know any better "Let's go" she said.

"No" he said.

"Tony!" she yelled and her voice broke and he could hear the hurt in her voice and it brought him to tears. He began to cry into his hands. She softly rubbed his head "You're coming with _me_" she said nudging him. He stood slowly and walked up the stairs to their bedroom.

"Garren down" Michelle warned as they walked into the room and Garren quickly moved out of the way sensing the trouble. Tony crawled over to the right side of the bed and curled into a ball.

Michelle sighed and walked into the bathroom. She winced at the bruising on the right side of her jaw, it wasn't too bad, but it was there. She turned off the lights and changed into his boxers and a t-shirt then crawled into bed next to him. She reached over and tugged on his shoulder asking him to turn to her.

He rolled onto his back and looked over to her, his voice was faint and high pitched as he fought tears "I'm so sorry" he began to cry.

She stroked his face "Hey" she said softly "It's ok"

"No" he said quickly "You may have talked yourself into thinking that with Jay but this is _not_ ok" he cried.

"But you didn't mean to hurt me, you were drunk and it was dark" she said softly.

"But I hurt you"

"You were trying to protect me" she said.

"But I didn't"

"It was an accident"

"It doesn't matter" he said sadly "You're hurt"

She sensed the space between them. He was afraid to touch her, afraid she might pull away, afraid to scare her and she could tell. She took his hand and put it on her face "You can touch me… it's all right"

He let out a small happy sigh in between sobs "In the car you…" he struggled with words "You didn't like it"

"I didn't flinch because of what _you_ did"

He looked up into her eyes "I'll kill him" he said at the thought of what Pete had done.

"No you won't" she said sternly "You will lay right here with me" she said "You will hold me through the night and make me feel safe"

He nodded "Ok" he said slowly going to wrap his arms around her but stopping "Is it ok if I…"

Her voice caught in her throat at his tenderness "Sweetheart you can touch me" she said guiding his hands to her hips "It's ok, do it just like you always do, don't hold back, I need you"

_I don't need a lot of things  
I can get by with nothing  
Of all the blessings life can bring  
I've always needed something  
But I've got all I want  
When it comes to loving you  
You're my only reason  
You're my only truth_

You're the hope that moves me  
To courage again  
You're the love that rescues me  
When the cold winds rage  
And it's so amazing  
'cause that's just how you are  
And I can't turn back now  
'cause you've brought me too far

I need you like water  
Like breath, like rain  
I need you like mercy  
From heaven's gate  
There's a freedom in your arms  
That carries me through  
I need you  
Oh yes I do

_I need you_

Tony gently pulled her close and he finally began to feel better "Michelle I love you so much"

She kissed him softly "I know Sweetheart"

_(The next day)_

Tony opened his eyes the next morning to the bright sun. His head was killing him, he looked over at Michelle and his heart dropped at the bruise on the side of her jaw. And the small content smile she wore as she slept made him want to cry. He couldn't believe what had happened and he hated that the alcohol had taken it out of his hands. If he had been sober he would have made sure she was at a safe distance before swinging, if he had been sober he wouldn't have missed, if he had been sober Pete would be in the hospital if he was lucky. He was sober now and wanted to put Pete in the hospital, but he had to stay with Michelle, he owed it to her to listen to what she'd said. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead. She slowly opened her eyes and pulled his chin down to meet hers. She kissed him deeply and after a few seconds he did the same.

"Good morning" she said lightly, catching her breath.

"Good morning" he smiled "How do you feel?"

"Probably better than you" she laughed "You want me to get you some ibuprofen?"

He smiled at how she knew him so well "I'll get it, I gotta get up and get ready for work anyway" he looked down at her jaw "Does it still hurt?"

She looked down "Only when I put pressure on it"

"Michelle" he began to apologize.

"It's over" she said and smiled "It's over, we're ok"

"I wasn't myself last night" he said "But I'm me now, completely sober and aware and I'm telling you Michelle that I am so sorry I let myself get out of hand and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving me through it"

"I'll love you through anything" she said.

"I know that baby" he smiled "but so many people say beautiful things like 'I'll always be there for you,' but you actually do it, you actually show me love and compassion seconds after I've punched you in the face and that… that takes my breath away" he kissed her tenderly "You are so perfect and I'm sorry for what I did"

"You were forgiven a long time ago" she smiled "I love you"

"I love you too baby" he said smiling at her until another thought caught up to him "Are you ok… you know about what happened with Pete… you must've been afraid"

"I was terrified" she said "But before I could even try to fight someone strong who loves me had already taken care of it" she smiled "I remember trying to push him but I couldn't reach him then I noticed your arms had come over my shoulders and he was already flying backward" she said "So yes, thanks to the man with the strong arms who loves me, I'm fine"

"But" he started not sure how to say it "what about when you flinched… in the car?"

"It was all just so fresh in my mind… the moment kept running over and over in my head, so when you touched me I thought it was him for split second, but I'm ok now"

"You sure? Because if you need for me to just-"

"I'm sure" she said reaching down to undo his pants.

"Michelle you don't have to prove you are alright by doing this" he said holding her hands.

"I'm not trying to prove anything" she said "In the face of a scary moment… I want my husband's hands on me, all over me" she looked up into his eyes and he saw a flicker of vulnerability as she said quietly "I _want _my husband"

"Then I'm right here"


	88. Chapter 88 Look After You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _The Fray_)

~ Chapter 88 ~

Michelle woke up a second time that morning to a nudge. She opened her eyes slowly, she was still naked from earlier that morning, but Tony, who was smiling down at her was now fully dressed "Hey baby I'm going to work" he said leaning down to kiss her softly.

She reached up and softly touched his face as he pulled away "I love you, have a good day at work"

"Ok" he smiled softly as he tucked her under the covers.

_(Later)_

By lunch Michelle was up and cleaning the house. She stopped in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and smiled at the fridge. She had bought magnetic letters for the fridge for the kids and right now Tony had arranged them to spell 'I LOVE YOU' with a smiley face. She smiled and found an 'M', 'E', 'R' and last she used a zero as an 'O' to respond with

'I LOVE YOU M0RE' as she headed out the door with Garren to go for a jog.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Tony"

"Yea?"

"She's doing it again" Adam complained.

"Don't care" Tony sighed turning back to the computer he was checking.

"She's driving me nuts" he said glancing up at Chloe.

"And now you're driving _me_ nuts" he said "what do you want me to do? Put her in time-out?"

"Of course not we're adults" he rolled his eyes.

"Then starting acting like it" he said "Take it up with her, I don't have patience for this and Michelle's not here so you two gotta work it out on your own" he said as the phone next to him rang. "Almeida"

"Tony, I have your sister Gina on line 2"

"Ok patch her through" he said as Adam walked away.

"Tony?" Gina said in a broken voice.

Tony perked up in fear at the sound of her voice "What's wrong?"

"Tony it's Dad" she let out in a cry "He had a heart-attack and he's in a coma, they think he's gonna die" she cried.

Tony was silent; he had no idea what to do with the words she had just said. He had just seen his father last weekend. This was absurd.

"Tony? You need to come to the hospital… mom's a wreck and we are so scared, Jon and Hannah are coming soon but right now it's just me and mom and I just want you here… Tony? Tony!"

"I-" he had no words so he pushed them out slowly "I don't know how to do this"

"I know… none of us do… just come please" she said.

"Ok" he said slowly hanging up and staring at the phone in horror. His father was dying… he was about to lose a parent… this couldn't be real… he _can't_ die. Tony looked up and gazed at Michelle's station, at the same time he saw Chloe hurrying toward him with a pout.

"Tony," she said "Adam-"

"Don't" he said standing up and heading to his office. He grabbed his jacket and headed down the stairs "Jack" Tony called Jack over "I need to leave, you got this"

Jack could tell something was wrong "Go" he nodded.

The ride home was full of the painfully beautiful memories of Tony and his father going to Cubs games when he was little. He began to cry, but stopped himself, he shouldn't do that… he had to be strong right? Would they all be crying? Should he cry too? No he shouldn't…. he couldn't decide, he didn't know, he needed everything to just slow down so he could think, he needed to escape and be able to breath, he closed his eyes and imagined he was in Michelle's arms, but it wasn't enough and he opened his eyes he had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the person in front of him. He hit the steering wheel and cursed himself. He couldn't wait to be home in her arms so everything could feel right again.

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle heard a knock at the door as she carried the laundry through the living room. She walked over the panel on the wall and lowered the music playing throughout the house. She walked over and opened the door holding the basket against her hip "Pete?" she said.

"Hi Michelle" he said playing with his hands nervously "I know you probably hate me and I'm the last person you want to see, but I really _really_ feel bad about what happened the other night and-"

"Come in" she said stepping to the side so he could come inside.

She led him into the living room and put the basket on the couch then turned to him "I feel awful and I can't believe it happened"

"It happened" she affirmed.

"I know it did… and I can't believe I let myself get that drunk and that's no excuse I know, but I just want you to understand that I would never do that sober… I've always thought you were pretty, but never would I have… I just owe you a huge apology" he took a breath "So… I'm sorry, _really_ sorry… and I want to apologize to Tony too, is he here?"

"He's at work" she said but as she did she heard the garage door opening and she frowned and thought "Oh that must be him… he's home early" she said checking her watch. At the sound of the garage Garren came barreling down the stairs knowing it was Tony.

"Good because I know I owe him a big apology too" he said and a few seconds later they heard the door to the garage open as Tony walked into the kitchen.

"Sweetheart?" Michelle said heading toward the kitchen. Before she could say anything he came out of the kitchen and saw Pete. His eyes turned from desperation to anger as he began to charge toward Pete, he was angry and Pete was the perfect target.

Michelle stepped into his path pushed back on his chest "Hey" she said touching his face he stared at Pete in anger "What's wrong?"

"He's angry… it's ok" Pete said "Look Tony-"

"No" she stopped him "There's something else-"

"Leave" Tony barked at Pete.

"Hey" she said turning his face to look at her "Meet me upstairs" she said softly.

Tony looked furiously at Pete wanting to kill him "I'm not leaving him with you…_Leave_ NOW!" Garren who had been watching sensed the anger in Tony's voice and began to growl.

"Just let me-" Pete said backing toward the door away from Garren.

"Go!" he yelled.

"Tony..." Michelle said softly, but she understood his anger and didn't want to fight him until she knew what was wrong.

Garren kept moving closer and closer til Pete's back was against the door. Pete looked at Michelle for back up. She signaled for Garren to sit and walked to the door opening it "Now is not a good time, I'm sorry" Garren looked at Tony who nodded for him to go. Garren charged toward Pete who hurried out the door. Michelle tried to grab his collar but it slipped "Garren! Down!" as Garren barked ferociously getting closer to Pete "Tony!" Michelle pleaded looking back.

Tony looked down "Easy boy" he said reluctantly and Garren went back to growling as he backed up a few steps and watched Pete get into his car. Michelle pulled him back into the house by his collar. Once she closed the door Tony had already disappeared upstairs. When she reached the bedroom he was sitting on one side looking out the window. He was silent and looked stiff. She walked over and sat next to him, but he didn't look at her. She gave him a minute then quietly said "Sweetheart what's wrong?"

"I want to get in my car and follow him"

"I know you're mad at him and he did a terrible thing" she said "But that is _not_ what this is about" she said putting her hand on his.

His eyes began to water and as he looked over into her eyes her heart broke for him "_What_ is it?" he pulled her into a tight hug and buried his face in her neck and closed his eyes trying to keep his composure "My dad's gonna die"

Her eyes widened "Oh my God" she said in a whisper.

"They called me, they want me to go to the hospital but I can't do this, I don't know what to do… if he's dead I don't know what to do cuz a world without him seems so confusing and lonely"

"Shhh" she said rubbing his head and kissing him softly "I'm right here, you're not alone"

_(An hour later)_

"Where's Tony? I thought you said he was coming?" Jon said wiping a tear as they sat in the waiting room.

Gina sniffed "I don't know I called him, he was at work, he was really freaked out… I don't know if he's coming" she said but as she did she saw Tony round the corner with Michelle holding his hand. "Thank _God_" They all stood. Gina ran up and hugged Tony, he put one arm around her refusing to let go of Michelle's hand. Gina then moved to Michelle who hugged her the best she could without letting go of Tony. Then they sat down and Tony sat staring out the window. A few minutes later a nurse came out and announced that he was ready for visitors. Michelle squeezed Tony's hand and looked over at him. His eyes still gazed out the window "Honey you want to see him now?"

He looked into her eyes and she could tell exactly what he was saying his eyes said 'No, I don't want to see my father in a coma, but I guess I'd be a terrible person for not going'

"Come on" she whispered and they walked down the hall. They walked over to a window and she moved closer to him "You don't have to go in" she said quietly "But …I think you might regret it if you don't"

"It's not like I can talk to him, tell him things I never got to tell him…" he sighed and looked out the window "you think you have forever" he dropped his face into his hands "And my mother will be in there crying… it's hard enough…" he let his hands down "I don't think I can handle her sobbing"

"She's understandably upset, but she will be okay and so will you" she said leaning next to him "You are both in pain and I know your instinct is to worry about other people, but you have to let yourself heal too" and lowered her voice so only he could hear "And it's _ok_ to let go"

He shook his head 'no' with vulnerability in his eyes.

"Ok" she said standing inches from him "Then that's ok too" He looked down the hall at the door to the room where his dad was "Whenever you're ready" she said gently.

"You're coming?" he made sure.

"Of course" she said softly holding his face.

He leaned down and kissed her softly as she took his hand "Thank you" he said and she gave him a small smile to encourage him and then they walked down the hall into the room.

_(Ten minutes later)_

It had been 10 minutes of hell for Tony and Michelle could see it in his eyes, with his mother sobbing and asking him questions. Tony hadn't even let a single tear go, but she could see the struggle in his eyes.

"I never even knew he had a will" Bella said "Did you Tony?"

"No"

"He was young, he liked taking walks… he was in shape… no one knew that this could even happen" she sniffed as a fresh round of tears began "Right Tony?"

"Right"

"Maybe he knew it was going to happen… he always had a knack for seeing things coming" she smiled and began to cry more "he was amazing like that, wasn't he?"

"Yea"

"It's too bad he never got to win the lottery… he played it every Sunday"

Tony wished she'd stop talking, but he nodded anyway as he wished with all his heart his dad would wake up.

"I think he should be cremated… right Tony?"

Tony's eyes widened in horror as Michelle saw his walls begin to crumble and he stood up and rushed out of the room. She stood and told Bella she'd look after Tony and she was sorry for the loss and hugged Bella then left the room expecting to find Tony in the hall but he wasn't there. She looked in the hallways and the waiting room and couldn't find him. She figured he was probably waiting in the car, that's where she always went to hide from the world so she headed down to the parking garage, but to her dismay he wasn't there.

She immediately began to panic, he was gone… she ran to the front desk and asked the ladies if they had seen him "Yea, he headed out those doors just a few minutes ago and walked that way" she pointed to the right down the street. Michelle ran out the front entrance, he was no longer in sight. She breathed heavily in fear wondering where he was going she looked around frantically then ran to the parking garage to get the car.

_(2 hours later)_

Michelle walked in the door of their house with tears still streaming down her face. She had been crying for over two hours as she searched everywhere she could for Tony with no luck. She squeezed her eyes shut and couldn't stand to look at the house that reminded her so much of him. She had called everyone they knew asking about Tony and he wasn't answering his phone, which left her hopeless. She plopped down on the couch as Garren jumped on her and began licking her face, she pushed him off her and sat back rubbing her eyes. She looked over and saw the basket of laundry, in it were his sweatpants and sweatshirt. She pulled them out and smelled them, she began to cry as she could smell him. She took off her clothes and put his on. She didn't even have enough strength to stand back up so she let herself sink onto the floor and she curled up in his clothes which were gigantic on her and cried wishing she knew where he was. It was dark and the hospital wasn't in a good part of town, she knew Tony was capable of defending himself, but he was in pain and alone and she hated that.

After what felt like hours of laying on the floor Michelle heard the front door unlock and she jumped up. Tony walked in the door and walked in the living room just as Michelle stood up, she almost lost her balance standing up as she realized how exhausted she was she sighed with relief and wiped a tear away "I'm so glad you're home" she said softly walking toward him, but he walked into the kitchen. She followed him "Where did you go?"

"I took a walk" he said quietly. He was so emotionally numb he didn't feel like thinking anymore.

"A walk?" she repeated his vague answer wanting more information after crying her eyes out for two hours worrying about him "Where?"

"Around..."

"Around? Come on Tony" she pleaded "Tell me what's going on"

"I don't feel like it" he said starting to head for the stairs.

"Tony!" he stopped in his tracks at her raised voice, he turned around as she said "You don't _feel_ like it? You wanna talk about feelings? You wanna know what I've been _feeling_ for the past 2 hours?" her voice cracked with emotion as her angry eyes softened and began to water "I've been worried, upset, lonely, terrified… I've been driving around Los Angeles for two hours hysterically crying looking everywhere for you calling everyone we know" his eyes softened as his heart broke for her. He took her hand and pulled her into his arms holding her tight as she cried "Do you have any idea how scared I've been?"

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, I didn't realize you'd freak out like this" he said softly in her ear.

"It was getting dark and you weren't answering your phone…"

"I know, I know, I wasn't thinking" he said.

She stopped and pulled back "You shouldn't be apologizing… I should be asking you how you feel" she said wiping a tear away.

"I don't want to think about grieving for my father right now, it's too frustrating because I don't know how to handle it… but this" he said holding her face, wiping one of her tears with his thumb "this I can do" he said pulling her head against his chest "Just let me take care of _you_"

_If I don't say this now I will surely break  
As I'm leaving the one I want to take  
Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait  
My heart has started to separate_

Oh, oh, Be my baby  
Oh, oh, oh  
Oh, oh, be my baby  
I'll look after you

There now, steady love, so few come and don't go  
Will you, won't you be the one I always know?  
When I'm losing my control, the city spins around  
You're the only one who knows, you slow it down

It's always have and never hold  
You've begun to feel like home  
What's mine is yours to leave or take  
What's mine is yours to make your own

She looked up and kissed him softly, as she did he picked her up and carried her upstairs. He laid her down in the bed and snuggled up next to her pulling her as close as possible "I'm sorry I left you like that today"

"I'm just glad your home" she said kissing him.

They laid in silence for a few minutes as he rubbed her back "I went to this small diner downtown called 'Jane's'" he explained "It was about 3 miles from the hospital… it's where me and my dad used to go to breakfast every Sunday morning because we were the only ones up early in the morning" he swirled her hair in around his finger as he talked "I sat down at one of the tables we sat at most of the time and looked around… the tables were the same ones we used to sit at and it amazed me because… how come the creaky lumpy booths got to stay but he didn't? How could he have just sat there last week and now he doesn't exist… a week ago in that booth I could ask him anything and now I can never talk to him again?"

"I wish" she said softly "there was something I could say or do-"

"There is" he answered softly "Tell me you love me and never let go"

She smiled kissing him "I love you with all of my heart" she wrapped her arms more tightly around him "And I will never let go"


	89. Chapter 89 Unstoppable

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

~ Chapter 89 ~

"Good Morning Michelle" Kim said walking up to Michelle's station.

"Hey Kim" she said with a small smile returning her eyes back to her monitor.

"So Happy Anniversary right?" she said with a small excited smile.

Michelle looked up and thought for a second and her jaw dropped, she put her hand over her heart "Oh my God"

"No _way_ did you forget" Kim let out a small laugh "_You_ … half of the most perfect couple I've ever met?… forgot?"

"A few days ago I was counting the minutes, but then everything with Pete and Tony's dad and…. Oh my-"

"Who's Pete?"

She looked up "No one…" she said combing her fingers through her hair nervously.

"And where's Tony?" she asked crossing her arms in front of her.

"Planning his father's funeral" she sighed putting her head into her hands "I've been so worried about him and they took his father off life support yesterday… I can't believe-"

"Michelle" Chappelle said entering CTU "Where are we on those scans"

"Uh" she stuttered not realizing he was coming in today… she hadn't asked him to come, but here he was "70 percent" she answered.

"Ok I need the results on my desk as soon as it finishes" he said heading up to Tony's office.

"Give me a moment please" she said to Kim as she pulled out her cell and dialed Tony.

"Hey" he answered.

"Hey" she said softly "How are you doing?"

He scratched the side his face "I'm ok, what's up?"

"Chappelle's here"

"I forgot to tell you he was coming" he sighed rubbing his forehead "I'm sorry, I've just had so much on my mind-"

"No, it's ok" she said gently "I just wasn't sure if it was something specific…" she sighed "Anyway" she stopped and tears welled up in her eyes and she smiled slightly and lowered her voice "I love you"

"I didn't forget" he said softly "A limo was scheduled to pick you up in 15 minutes, that's why Chappelle is there, he was told you had somewhere to go, but I rescheduled the plans I made… for next week instead, I hope you don't mind, I just-"

She let out a laugh as she wiped a tear from her eye "No baby, it's perfectly ok… I had no idea you had all these plans" she looked around to make sure no one was listening "You are so perfect" she said turning and heading toward the bathroom.

"I'm sorry it couldn't be the way I planned it, I really wanted to surprise you" he said.

She looked in the mirror "Sweetheart you are under a tremendous amount of pressure… we both are" she was silent for a second "I didn't even remember at first… and when I realized… I feel terrible for forgetting this morning"

"We've barely been sleeping" he admitted "A lot has been going on and you know what?… our marriage is not about one special day every year, it's about every single _day,_ every moment…from moments when we are sitting by the fireplace, moments when we cry in each other's arms to the moments when we are making love… I know anniversaries are supposed to be the day we are supposed to do something to show how much we love each other, but I feel like we do that every day… ya know? Every day you do things that remind me just how much you love me and I try to do the same"

"There has not been a single moment in our marriage when I've doubted you love me"

_(A few days later)_

"Where's Michelle?" Gina asked.

"I don't know she was supposed to be here 3 minutes ago" he said checking his watch which was shaking along with the rest of his arm.

Gina saw the worry in his eyes "I'm sure everything's fine" she reassured him, she noticed he had become more attached to Michelle since their father had died.

The Denali splashed into the parking lot and roared up. Michelle turned off the SUV and began looking through her purse. Before she could even get out of the car Tony was at her side "Hey" he said holding her hand as she got out.

"Sorry I'm late" she said and he kissed her softly "Chappelle" she explained smoothing her black skirt out as Tony led her into where the funeral ceremony was being held.

Gina sat in between her mother and Michelle. Gina tried to comfort her mother as she cried through the service, but it seemed to be no use. She could hear her brothers Jon behind he sniffling and Joe blowing his nose. She looked over at Tony who was silent. His eyes looked glazed, but he was the most composed of all her brothers as Michelle held his hand. The only time Tony started to lose it was when he was forced to let go of Michelle to go up and speak, but still he didn't cry, although you could tell his was in a very great deal of pain.

After the funeral Gina walked up behind Michelle "Hey Michelle?"

"Yea?"

"What are you guys doing after this? I've been staying with mom to keep her company but I don't think I can take anymore crying… but I don't want to go back to my place to be alone"

"Nothing exciting, but you are always welcome… you know that" she said.

"I just wasn't sure, cause I don't know how Tony's been coping… ya know"

She sighed "I know, but he's been really calm about… almost too calm… I don't know, he's starting to scare me a little, I don't want him to bottle it up and I feel like that's what's happening, I'm kinda waiting for him to freak out and release but" she sighed "I understand him because I do the same thing, but I just wish he would let go already, knowing he's in pain is so hard"

"So why don't you just talk to him?"

She shook her head "That's not how this works, if I ask him to talk, he _will_ just to make me feel better, but it won't solve anything for him, it might even make it worse… we just have to wait it out, it will come… at some random moment it will hit him and when it does I'll be there"

"You sound like you've done this before"

"I have"

_(Later)_

"Ok so who's hungry?" Michelle asked after they'd chosen a movie to watch that evening.

"I'm starving" Gina said.

"Ok, how about I go pick us up a pizza?" Michelle said coming out of the kitchen with a menu.

"Oh sounds good" Gina smiled.

"No, it's ok honey, you don't have to go out I'll cook something" Tony said.

Michelle looked up "That's ok Sweetheart, you've had a long day, we can just order something"

"Ok then I'll go get it" he said.

She eyed him closely "Ok"

20 minutes later Tony headed out to go get the food. "Too bad that place doesn't deliver" Gina sighed.

Michelle laid back on the couch lost in thought.

Gina looked over and noticed "You ok?"

Michelle snapped out of it "Oh…" she said "Yea, I just worry about him"

"He's been really protective of you lately"

"Yea" she sighed "A lot has happened in the past week"

Gina thought for a second then the phone began to ring. Michelle picked it up "Hello?" she said and Gina listened "Oh hi Pete"

"Oh Pete? Tell him I said 'hi'" Gina smiled.

Michelle didn't respond "No it's not really a good time… seriously… I understand that and he _will_ come around but right now he has so much going on and-" she stopped "Don't come" she said "No, because I'm not gonna keep fighting him on this… yes I do… don't… right now he's not himself… maybe on a normal day he wouldn't but I'm telling you if you come anywhere near me you will most likely leave bleeding" she dropped her forehead onto her hand "Because I know… and you will, just not today… yes…ok I will call you as soon as he's feeling better… you too, bye"

"You will leave bleeding? What the hell Michelle?" Gina asked as the garage door began to open.

"For Tony's sake, now is not the time" she said quietly.

Tony walked in the door "Dinner time" Garren ran up to him barking happily "Not for you buddy"

"Hey" Michelle smiled "Need some help?" she said taking a bag from him "Oh we do we have here?" she said bringing the food into the living room.

They all sat down and began to eat "So did anyone call while I was gone?" Tony asked. Gina looked up at Michelle who closed her eyes and then looked over at him "He called me too" Tony said "Or tried to at least"

Michelle let her head fall to the side "Just let him apologize" she begged.

"Why?" Tony said in annoyance "So _he_ can feel better?" he asked "Because that's what this is about… he's not banging down our door for _our_ sake… he feels like the piece of shit he is and now he wants to feel better by apologizing… no" Tony shook his head.

"Sweetheart-"

"Wait Pete? Since when do you have a problem with Pete?" Gina asked in confusion knowing Pete and Tony had been great friends for years.

"Since he can't keep his hands off my wife"

"What?" Gina's jaw dropped "Michelle-"

"Enough" she said "He was drunk, he made a mistake"

"He wanted to rape you" Tony said as tears filled his eyes.

"He did _not_ rape me" she said sternly "We don't know what he was going to do because you stopped him"

"I saved you" he said in frustrated tears.

She took his hand "Yes you did, and I am _fine_"

"Then why do I feel like this?" he said with vulnerable tears in his eyes "Why can he say sorry and feel better, but I can't sleep at night… I can't bring myself to take my eyes off of you, I have to check and make sure your still breathing throughout the night...why do I feel paralyzed with fear whenever you leave the house and all he has to do is say 'sorry' to feel better?"

"Because you saw me be threatened and you saw your father die and now you can't help thinking what will be next" she said softly as he cried into her shoulder "But you have to know that I'm _okay_… what Pete did was terrible, but we all do terrible things… and your father died and even though you miss him and it kills you now, it _will_ get better" she rubbed his back and kissed his head as he finally allowed himself to let go. Gina quietly left the room to give them privacy. Michelle let Tony calm down a little and said "Pete called and I told him not to come, he's not going to come until I call him and tell him you're ready. You don't have to do this all at once, take it one day a time and do what you can" she said softly. He panted as he struggled to calm himself "Come on Sweetheart" she said "Let's go upstairs and get changed"

He nodded and they stood up. Michelle saw Garren staring out the back door "I'm just gonna let Garren out and I'll be right up" she said as he continued up the stairs and she turned and went into the kitchen to let Garren out.

Gina was sitting at the table, she looked up and smiled softly "You were right… there it was"

Michelle nodded as someone knocked at the door. Her soft eyes turned to anger "That better not be-" she said hurrying to the door.

"Really?" Michelle said opening the door.

"I just wanna get this over with" he said putting his hands up "I'm willing to take whatever Tony's got"

"I told you not to come! You have no idea-" Michelle felt a hand on her shoulder and knew who it was.

"It's ok baby" he said in a low husky voice "Go ahead Pete"

Pete looked startled, this was the last thing he was expecting "I uh" he looked at Michelle for any clue as to why Tony was being so nice "I'm really, really sorry Tony" he said slowly keeping a safe distance "I screwed up big-time… I know its not an excuse, but I was _really_ drunk, but I'm sorry… really sorry"

"Ok" Tony sighed.

"Ok?" Pete asked looking back and forth between Michelle and Tony.

"Ya" he said "Now if you'll please" Tony said indicating to Pete's car.

Pete nodded "Yea… ok… well I'll uh, I'll see ya later" he said walking away slowly.

Michelle closed the door and wrapped her arms are Tony's neck hugging him tightly. Her hands ran through his hair and down his face to his chin "_That_" she smiled "Was wonderful" she kissed him softly "I am so proud of you"

"If it weren't for you I probably would have killed him" Tony said with a small smile.

"Would you go back and change it if you could? Kill him instead?"

"No" he said "You found the best in me, when I didn't even think I had it…and" he sighed "Surprisingly enough" he half-smiled "I feel a little better letting go of that anger"

She nodded with tears in her eyes kissing him again "That's the first step"

"What's the second one?" he smiled.

"Pizza, a chick-flick, and all the snuggling you can take" she said wrapping her arms around him from behind nudging him toward the living room.

He smiled "I think I can handle that"

_So, so you made a lot of mistakes  
Walked down the road a little sideways  
Cracked a brick when you hit the wall  
Yeah, you've had a pocket full of regrets  
Pull you down faster than a sunset  
Hey, it happens to us all  
When the cold, hard rain just won't quit  
And you can't see your way out of it_

Love, it can weather any storm  
Bring you back to being born, again  
Oh, it's the helping hand  
When you needed it most  
The lighthouse shining on the coast  
That never goes dim  
When your heart is full of doubt  
As you think that there's no way out

You find your faith that's been lost and shaken  
You take back what's been taken  
Get on your knees and dig down deep  
You can do what you think is impossible  
Keep on believing, don't give in  
It'll come and make you whole again  
It always will, it always does  
Love is unstoppable  



	90. Chapter 90 Anywhere for You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

_~Well here we are… The countdown to season 3, exciting yet slightly dreadful as we all know what is coming:/ Chronologically we are about 1 year away from season 3 so the next 10 chapters will be moving through the months pretty quickly, which is okay because anything that we skip will be re-visited in memories, which I hope will lighten the mood during the season 3-4 gap:) ~_

~ Chapter 90 ~

'20 more minutes' Michelle decided looking up at the clock. She was leaving CTU early because today was special and she wanted to spend as much of this special day as possible with Tony. She looked over at her calendar and looked at today's date 'September 4' she smiled. Her phone rang "Dessler"

"Hey" she heard the smile in his voice.

Her smile mirrored his "Hey Sweetheart, I was just thinking about you"

His smile widened "And what were you thinking?" he asked.

"I was thinking about how this is a special day for us and how much I can't wait to come home" she smiled "I'm heading out of here in 20 minutes"

"You better hope your boss doesn't find out" he chuckled.

"I have a feeling by the end of tonight he will be quite understanding"

He laughed "You think so?"

"I know so" she smiled.

"Any chance I could ask you a favor?"

"Anything" she said typing in the last few protocols for the night shift.

"I'm making tacos tonight for dinner since you love them so much, it was supposed to be a surprise but I forgot the shredded cheese, could you pick some up?"

"No problem, I was gonna stop by the store anyway to pick up a few things" she said.

"Uh oh that's the last time I go food shopping alone… what else did I forget?" he smiled cradling the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he chopped a tomato.

"Uh" she giggled "It's not what you forgot, it's more what you got the wrong type of"

"What?" he scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

"My personal products" she said quietly.

"Again!" he sighed "There's too many types…you women are too picky"

"Right" she nodded her head sarcastically with a small smile.

He rolled his eyes "I'm tellin you, it all does the same thing… they are all the same… just different colors"

She laughed as Chloe walked up to her desk "They are not all the same" she said and looked up at Chloe "I gotta go ok?"

"Ok baby, see ya soon" he smiled.

"Ok" she said hanging up the phone "What's up Chloe?"

_(45 minutes later)_

'I should've just gotten a cart' Michelle thought as she struggled with all the bags. She had gotten more than she'd planned. She walked up to her Jetta and realized with her arms full she had no clue where she put her car key. She rolled her eyes and then all of a sudden her head hit the window in front of her. She then felt the all-to-familiar cold feeling of a gun to the side of her head. "Gimme your money and the car keys" a young male voice said.

She almost wanted to smile… this kid clearly had no idea what he was doing, she could tell by how he had her positioned he was not very good at this. She thrust her leg back hitting him right in the groin and as he began to fall she spun around with her elbow straight out and hit him so hard he was on the ground bleeding. He sat back up slowly and she could see tears in his eyes. He fiercely wiped them away and tried to look tough.

Michelle waited for a second "Aren't you gonna run?" she asked eyeing him closely.

"What?"

"This is the part where you run before I call the cops… you run so that by the time they get here you are as far away as possible… you are giving me way too much time to get a good description of you, if I were crazy I could even get in my car and run you over… so" she said wiping the blood from her nose and crossing her arms across her chest "why aren't you running?"

He sighed and looked down "I don't know" he said quietly shaking his head in disappointment.

"Well I've already seen 3 people in this parking lot take out phones, so chances are they are probably on their way already" she said squatting at his level. He looked up at her and all she saw in his eyes was complete defeat and hopelessness.

"Why did you try and mug me?"

"I needed money"

"Where do you live?"

"I don't have a house…look whatever" he said standing up and handing her the things that fell out of her bags "I'm sorry… whatever" he said wiping the blood from his lip on his sleeve.

To work at CTU you had to be able to read a person well within seconds of meeting them, from just a few words, or the look in their eyes, or small pieces of body language you had to be able to quickly assess their intentions and Michelle was exceptionally good at this. Her instinct told her that this kid was lost and desperate, not a hard criminal and she felt really bad for him. She remembered just the week before she had watch a kid his age get gunned down. It had been killing her she hadn't been able to save him, he had been a good kid wrapped up in a mess of bad decisions… Tony had assured her he would have died with or without her and she shouldn't blame herself. But a part of her still wished she had done something different and now standing in front of this young man she felt like she _could _do something.

"Come on, get in the car" she said.

"What?" he frowned.

"Do you _want to_ get arrested?" she said pushing a button so the trunk would open itself.

"No" he said still utterly confused as she loaded the groceries into the trunk and closed it.

She pushed another button and the lights of the car flashed twice "Then get in" she said opening her door.

He eyed her closely then looked around and heard a siren in the distance. He cautiously got in the car. The engine made a zooming sound as Michelle flew out of the parking lot.

In less than ten minutes they pulled up to the biggest house the young man had ever seen before "This where you _live_?" he asked as the first garage began to open and Michelle drove in.

"Yup" she said as she turned off the car, she grabbed his arm as he tried to get out of the car "Stay here a sec, let me go in first… because if you walk in with me and my nose is bleeding my husband _will_ kill you" she laughed as he turned white in fear.

"I should just go" he said quietly.

"No, no it's ok, just wait here a sec and I'll let him know what's going on" she smiled. She got out of the car and headed inside.

As she entered the kitchen Tony was turned the other way stirring the beef in a pan "Hey Sweetheart" he said warmly.

"Hey honey" she said as he turned around.

His face dropped "What's happened!" he said putting the pan back and hurrying over to her.

She smiled "I'm fine, it's a long story" she explained as he cleaned the blood with a damp paper towel "We have a dinner guest"

He stopped cleaning and looked into her eyes "What?"

"Just" she took his hands "trust me"

He eyes her closely "What do you mean?"

"Promise you'll trust me" she said stroking his face.

"I promise" he said.

"Ok wait here" she said heading out to the garage where the young man was unloading the groceries. She waved him in and he cautiously came into the house.

Tony's face was struck with horror and confusion when he saw the kid "What is going on?"

"I shouldn't be here" he said taking a step back.

"No it's ok" Michelle said laying a hand on his shoulder and turning to Tony "This is my friend, he's gonna join us for dinner" she smiled "This is my husband Tony" she told the kid "And Tony" she said to Tony "This is …" she stopped realizing she hadn't asked his name.

"Corey Hatters, sir" he said humbly.

"Michelle-" Tony said unsurely.

"Corey, how about you get cleaned up, ok?" she said taking the bags from him "The bathrooms right down that hall to the right" she pointed and he nodded following her directions.

Once he was gone Tony asked "What the hell is going on?"

"He's lost, he doesn't have a home, he needs some help, let him stay for dinner" she said softly.

"Wha-" Tony scratched the side of his face trying desperately to understand what was going on in her head "You went to get tampons and you show up with-" he shook his head trying to put his thoughts together "This is crazy, we don't even know him, he could be-" he stopped himself "_What_ happened to your nose?"

"He's not dangerous" she said.

"He did this?" Tony said as she saw his temper rising.

"Hey" she said grabbing his head in her hands and forcing him to look into her eyes "Do you love me?"

He looked at her not believing the words coming out of her mouth "Of _course_ I do, I love you more than anything, but right now you are scaring me"

"There is nothing to be afraid of… I love you, now trust me… let him stay"

He searched her eyes, he still wasn't sure what she had in mind, but he decided to give in and be ready to protect her if anything happened "Fine" he said.

"Thank you" she said kissing him softly, then letting go of him so he could go stop the meat from burning. She turned and Corey was standing there "Wanna help me set the table?"

"Ok" he said quietly. Slowly following Michelle, keeping his distance from Tony.

A few minutes later they sat down to eat. Tony was keeping a close eye on Corey at all times, ready to intervene on Michelle's behalf at any time. Corey sensed this and kept his eyes down. It was quiet. Tony could not stand this, he had to know what was going on "So" he said "how do you go from giving my wife a bloody nose to calling me sir?"

"Tony" Michelle sighed shaking her head.

Corey looked up and met Tony eyes then quickly looked back down, not being able to take his stare "I made a mistake" Corey started slowly "In the end your wife kicked my ass and so now I'm scared to think what _you_ could do to me… so I call you sir to show respect, ya know?"

A smile tugged at Tony's lips "Ok" he said in a softer tone at the thought of this kid having a healthy fear of him.

Corey looked up at Tony and saw a spark of acceptance and forgiveness, which surprised him.

"So my name is Michelle Almeida, I am 31 years old, this is Tony Almeida, my husband, we have a dog named Garren, we've known each other for 2 years as of today, been married for one, uh, we spend a lot of time at work, we like watching movies" She said and Tony and Corey watched her in confusion "My mother died when I was 23, my Dad's not around, I have one brother who is 4 years younger than me, my birthday is January 30th and my favorite color is purple" she said and then looked at Tony "Tony"

He knew what she was thinking and sighed inwardly "Tony Almeida, 32 years old, born June 21, favorite color is blue, I have 2 brothers and one sister… Jonathan is 2 years older than me, Joe is a year younger and Gina is 6 years younger than me… my father died 3 weeks ago, my mother still isn't herself… and this woman here" he said indicating to Michelle "is absolutely everything to me and there is _nothing _I won't do for her" he said staring at Corey.

_I'd walk halfway around the world  
For just one kiss from you  
Far beyond the call of love  
The sun, the stars, the moon  
As long as your love's there to lead me  
I won't lose my way believe me  
Even through the darkest night you know  
_

_I used to think that dreams were just for sentimental fools  
And I'd never find someone  
Who'd give their love so true  
But I knew the very minute  
Couldn't live my life without you in it  
And now I want the whole world to know_

_I'd go anywhere for you  
Anywhere you asked me to  
I'd do anything for you  
Anything you want me to  
Your love as far as I can see  
Is all I'm ever gonna need  
There's one thing for sure  
I know it's true  
Baby, I'd go anywhere for you_

Michelle smiled and looked to Corey "How about you?"

Corey shifted nervously in his seat "Corey Hatters, I'm 28…uh… I like green I guess… I never knew my father… my mother was only 17 years older than me… she died a couple months ago… I tried to take her to the hospital, but there was nothing they could do by then, she died from heroine and yesterday was my birthday"

"Happy Birthday" Michelle smiled fighting tears.

"Where do you live?" Tony asked.

Corey shook his head and looked down at what was left of his taco. Tony looked over at Michelle and looked into her teary eyes and immediately knew what she was thinking, he began to shake his head, but then Corey looked up and he stopped and offered Corey a small smile.

"Thank you for dinner Mr. Almeida" he said "I don't wanna be rude, but I gotta go if I'm gonna get to the shelter in time" he said looking down at his watch.

Michelle locked eyes with Tony as Corey got up. Tony closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. Michelle knew that this was him giving in "Corey you can stay here" she said standing up. Corey stopped and looked over at Tony who nodded slowly. Tony stood up and took his and Michelle's dishes to the sink.

"I can stay here for the night?" he said in slight disbelief.

"You can stay as long as you'd like" Michelle said softly.

Tony's eyes widened and he looked up in horror, luckily he was facing the other way.

"Here I'll show you your room" Michelle said as he heard Corey and Michelle head upstairs. Tony hurried out of the kitchen to watch them disappear up the stairs. He put his hand on his forehead. He could not believe this…. He tried to breathe slowly to calm himself, but then he heard Michelle scream and barreled up the stairs taking 4 at a time. He rushed in the find her in the bathroom against the wall. He stopped in his tracks when he saw that she was pointing to a bug in the sink. Corey was getting some toilet paper and was ready to kill the bug. Tony looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes taking a second to breathe, he had just almost committed murder over a water bug. He shook his head and looked back down as Corey flushed the bug down the toilet.

Corey smiled "She can take a 28 year old man with a gun to her head, but a water bug makes her scream like a little girl" he laughed.

Tony began to laugh too until he re-listened to what Corey had said "Gun!"

Michelle stepped between them "I confiscated it… there were no bullets" she said quickly.

Tony lifted his hands in the air in surrender and walked away with anger. He stomped back down the stairs to clean the kitchen. Michelle sighed and offered Corey a small smile "Anyway, this is the bathroom you'll be using, there are always fresh towels and shower supplies in here…. Here's a toothbrush" she said pulling out a new toothbrush.

"Maybe I shouldn't be here" he said.

Michelle looked over at him "No" she said softly "It's ok, really it is"

"Your husband is upset and I don't want to cause problems for you, you've been so nice"

"It's _no_ problem" she assured him "Tony is upset because the thought of someone hurting me terrifies him, so" she said "As long as you don't plan to hurt me, this will all work out and he will come around" she sat on his bed next to him "When I saw you, for some reason it was obvious to me that you weren't a thug, I could see that you are a nice kid who is just going through a rough patch, that's why I want to help you" she explained "Tony's just protecting me, he will warm up to you, just give it time" she said with a small smile and Corey nodded and smiled back as she headed out of the room.

"We need to talk" Tony said as she entered the kitchen.

Michelle walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"No, no no" he said squirming out of her embrace "Don't even try it"

"What?"

"You _know_ I can't be angry with you touching me"

She smiled "I don't want you to be angry with me"

"I'm not angry at _you_, I'm angry at this whole situation, I have no idea what's going through your head and everything is moving so fast-"

"Hey" she said holding the side of his face, then realizing what she was doing she put her hands up in surrender "I will explain"

She walked over the sink and began washing dishes. As she washed the dishes she told Tony the story about everything that had happened that day and as he dried the dishes he listened carefully to every word. After she finished he thought for a second "You realize what you are doing right?" she looked at him slightly confused "This is about that kid that died last week, you're still hurt over it and you are trying to make it better by helping this kid"

She nodded "Yea, you know what? You're probably right" she said looking up at him as she dried her hands "But still… why not? He needs help, he's a good kid, we can help him back onto his feet, get a job, save up some money and get an apartment… I mean… why not? We have been blessed with this huge house and until we have children we have extra rooms, more money than we know what to do with... Why not?"

He sighed. It really was true he'd do anything she asked, even this and she really wanted this. "Ok" he said "We'll help him"

Michelle smiled "Yes!"

"But just him…that's it" Tony said quickly "We are not opening up some crazy self-help center, it's too dangerous and with our jobs we can't be doing this… but we will help Corey"

Michelle smiled brightly "Can I touch you now?"

He laughed "Baby you can do whatever you want to me now" he smiled running his hands from her shoulders down to her hips and pulling her body against his. She kissed him passionately and ran her fingers through his hair as he unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse. He smiled as he ran his finger down her chest until they heard the doorbell. Tony let out a sigh and dropped his head so his face was inches from her breasts "Why? Why can't people just leave us alone?" he said pulling himself away from her.

She hopped down off the counter and began to follow him when Corey came down the stairs. She saw him and quickly held the top of her blouse together "Corey, what's wrong?"

"I saw out my window, they are here to get me" he said nervously.

Tony opened the door to two police officers "Mr. Almeida?"

Michelle and Corey were out of the view of the officers, but she could hear them. She turned and nudged Corey back toward the stairs "Everything will be fine, just go back to your room, me and Tony will take care of this, don't worry"

"But-"

"_Listen_ to me" she said. So he nodded and headed up the stairs. She buttoned up her shirt and hurried into the kitchen to get her wallet.

Meanwhile, "Yes, what seems to be the problem officers?" Tony asked.

"We got a call about a fight at the shopping center, one of the witnesses had your wife's license plate numbers written down, they said she was attacked and fought back out of self-defense, but then she and the hostile disappeared… is your wife home?"

"I'm right here" Michelle said coming up behind Tony.

"We are glad to see you are ok" they said "Can you tell us anything about-"

"No, it's ok" Michelle said "It's not going to be a problem, it was a misunderstanding" she said.

"I don't think you understand-" the officer began to say.

Michelle held up her badge "This _isn't_ going to be a problem" she repeated.

The two officers looked at Tony who was staring at them "Do we have a problem?" he asked.

The officers looked at each other "I guess not"

"Have a great night then" Michelle smiled walking away.

The two officers looked to Tony who shook his head smiling "Women… can't live with them, can't live without them"


	91. Chapter 91 Nothing Like This

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

~ Chapter 91 ~

"Michelle?" Tony said walking into the house after work catching Garren who was barking excitedly "Good boy, ok down…. Hey what have we been teaching you? Down means down" he smiled leaning down to look the dog in the eyes "I love you but believe it or not…you are not the one I'm looking for when I first walk in the door, buddy" he chuckled petting him. He looked at the mail on the table then wondered why she hadn't answered "Sweetheart?" he said a little louder.

"In here" he heard from the laundry room.

He walked in and chuckled at the sight. Michelle was sitting on top of the dryer with a bowl of Halloween candy in her lap in one of his t-shirts and sweatpants on "Umm sweetheart… what are you doing?" he chuckled as the dryer rumbled.

"The vibration and warmth eases the cramps" she sighed.

He laughed kissing her softly "You are _adorable_" he said stroking her face "Mind if I join you?"

She moved over and patted the spot next to her and passed him the bowl "I ate all the Kit-Kats" she admitted with a guilty smile.

He smiled "That's okay" he chuckled as he looked through the bowl "So how was Corey's interview?" he said unwrapping a Snickers.

"It went _really_ well" she smiled softly "He seemed really confident, this might be the one"

"Poor kid has been on enough interviews, I let him use my lucky tie" Tony smiled.

"I saw that" she smiled back at him "That was really nice of you" she said kissing him on the side of the head "It means so much to me that you're in on this"

"Of course I'm in on this" he smiled.

"I know, but this was _my_ crazy idea, you didn't have to lend him your tie or take him clothes shopping" she said.

"Hey" he said holding the side of her face "You can _always_ count me in" he said "No matter how crazy it gets"

She smiled and kissed him.

"Really guys" Gina stepped through the door seeing them sitting on the dryer "I think you're doing it wrong"

_(Later)_

They had decided to all watch a movie. A chick-flick had won the vote to Tony's disappointment… Corey hadn't minded what they watched so it was Tony versus Michelle and Gina… he lost. Michelle promised they would watch a movie he liked together the tomorrow.

Half-way through the movie Michelle looked down at Tony's head resting on her chest, he was fast asleep… she had nudged him many times to try and keep him awake, but he was very tired. "Guys I'm sorry, but I'm exhausted and I have work in the morning and uh" she pointed to Tony "he's obviously not into the movie so we're gonna head upstairs" she smiled.

Gina and Corey nodded as they watched Michelle nudge Tony "Sweetheart wanna go to bed?"

"Just reset the parameters and re-compile it" he said with his eyes closed.

She rolled her eyes as she lifted him to a sitting position "Tony come on" she said running her finger across his chin.

He opened his eyes and immediately looked confused "Is it over?"

She smiled and shook her head smoothing his hair out "No, but come on" she said pulling him up with her. She directed him toward the stairs as he walked sleepily "Goodnight guys" she smiled back at them.

"Goodnight" Corey said.

"Goodnight" Gina smiled starting the movie again.

"You know" Tony said as they reached the top of the stairs and turned around "I'm not really _that_ tired" he smiled playing with the strings on her sweatpants.

She looked back down the stairs "We have to be quiet"

"I'm not the loud one"

She pushed him and smiled as he threw her into the air and caught her, she wrapped her legs around him and began taking his shirt off. He laid her down in the bed and within seconds they had all of each other's clothes off, they had become very good at this and there was no longer any bumping into each other or nervous pauses, they moved as one and each knew exactly what the other liked and the best ways to drive the other crazy. They had become so comfortable with each other that everything was perfect each time and neither could ever imagine having sex with any other person. Any other person wouldn't love them more for their flaws, another person would have no idea how she liked to be held through it, no one else could tell just how to move depending on the look in her eyes or how to satisfy him the way only _she _knew…Only he could make love to her and only she could make love to him… anyone else could never come close to the perfectness they had.

_There's nothing in my life,  
I'd say I regret,  
But there's something in your eyes that makes me forget,  
The times that I believed that love was good as love could be,  
I had it all, but I was wrong._

You can't describe the sea,  
Unless you been there before.  
It's just a mystery,  
Until your standing on the shore,  
And moved by every wave  
Taking your breath away like you do,  
To me.

It's like another life,  
Like I haven't felt a thing, until you.

Thought I'd been touched,  
Thought I'd been kissed,  
Thought I'd been loved,  
But it was nothing like this.  
It was nothing like this  
Nothing like, nothing like this.

Half an hour later they laid wrapped in each other arms "I did good, I was very quiet" she said with a smile.

"You were perfect" he said softly kissing her head.

She played with his hair and thought quietly "I don't want to get up" she said "But I have to let Garren in" she pulled herself up slowly "But I'll be right back" she kissed him and then got out of bed and grabbed her soft robe. She wrapped it around her body and walked out.

She walked down the stairs quietly until she heard some odd noises coming from the living room. She looked in to see Gina and Corey making out on the couch she and Tony had been on. She cleared her throat and they both jumped. Out of words Michelle walked out of the room and went into the kitchen and opened the door so Garren could come in.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like that" Gina said quietly as she walked into the kitchen.

"Me too" Michelle said "Your brother is not gonna like this"

"I know that" she said "But we can't help who we fall in love with right?" she tried.

"That's a strong word"

"This has been going on for a while now… it's an appropriate word" she said.

"Well if that's true you better come up with a better way than that" Michelle pointed toward the living room "To tell Tony about this"

She nodded "I know, but he's gonna be mad and I don't know how to tell him without him getting angry at us… especially Corey" she said "Corey doesn't wanna mess up their relationship… Tony's really warming up to Corey" she said "I don't know what to say to Tony so he won't be mad at me" she looked up at Michelle "Could you tell him? He won't be mad at _you_… and you can calm him like no one else can… please"

Michelle sighed "I can't control how he's gonna feel" Michelle said "He's still gonna be angry and no… he won't be mad at me… but he will be mad that you two weren't honest with him"

"Do you think he's gonna kick me out?" Corey asked as he walked in to the kitchen.

Michelle sighed "He might want to" she admitted "But I will make sure he doesn't… however if you don't tell him soon I will become less sympathetic" she said leaving.

Gina and Corey looked into each other's eyes "Michelle's right" Gina said to Corey "We have to tell him soon"

"Ok but when we _do_ tell him" Corey said stepping closer to Gina "Michelle's gotta be there"

"I know" Gina said "And we should listen to Michelle…do it soon… cuz when this goes down we need her on our side" Gina sighed and wrapped her arms around Corey's neck "I'm sorry my brother's so difficult"

"No" Corey said "I get it… actually I admire it…. How protective he is… you and Michelle are his girls, he takes care of you, he keeps the men around you two in constant fear of him so that no one dares to hurt you… he's doing his job as a big brother and husband…and he's just doing a _really_ good job" he chuckled "I'd be the same way for my wife and especially" he smiled "if I ever had a daughter… all the boys will be afraid of me, cuz I will do anything to protect her"

Gina smiled and kissed him "Well I better get home before we get caught again"

"Nah they're probably in the middle of round two" he chuckled and her mouth hung open with a smile "What?" he smiled "I live down the hall and they are very loud, I know how it goes"

She laughed "Ok well either way… I should get going" she said grabbing her keys.

"Alright goodnight" he smiled once they were outside and she was getting into her car. Once she drove away Corey headed back into the house and armed the alarm. "Come on Garren, you can sleep with me" Corey said and Garren followed him up the stairs.

_(The next day)_

"We just got a lead on Jennings" Tony said sticking his head into Tech 1 where Michelle was typing.

"What do we have?" she asked turning to him as walked in.

"Someone spotted him walking into a building downtown" he said "I'm taking a team now to bring him in"

She looked away and nodded slowly.

He knew she didn't like him going into the field "I know" he said "But with Chase out there's really no one else"

"Where _is_ Jack anyway?" Michelle asked.

"He's got something going on in Mexico"

"Mexico?"

"It's been cleared by Division, I don't know, but right now I gotta move on this lead"

She nodded and turned back to the computer. He put his hand on her shoulder and ran it down her arm and took her soft hand in his and held it and squeezed it. She looked over and they locked eyes "I'll see ya soon" he promised, then he turned around and left.

_(30 minutes later)_

"We just lost signal with Tony" Adam said listening into the earpiece.

"What do you mean?" Chloe frowned.

"There were gunshots and now there's no signal"

"Did you try a reset or a secondary frequency?"

"Of course I did" he said "There's nothing"

She sighed "Well Tony's out so that means Michelle's in charge, I'll go find her" Chloe said heading off. She entered Tech 1 and saw Michelle "Michelle we have a situation"

"I know" Michelle said "I've been watching everything…" she said heading out into the bullpen "Everyone listen up… the tip was not what we thought it was… this was a trap… all teams fall back" she said to the bullpen and into her headpiece. She was so worried about him… gunshots then the line when dead… oh god…

Michelle took a deep breath and glanced up at his office. The phone at her station rang. She hurried over to it and snatched it up "Dessler"

"Ms. Dessler I have a Gina Almeida for you on line 3"

"Put her through" Michelle said with a sigh.

"Hello?"

"What's wrong Gina? Is everything ok?" Michelle said quickly with worry.

"Nothing… I'm okay" Gina said "You weren't answering my texts, sorry to bother you at work, but I wanted to talk to you"

Michelle didn't want to scare Gina so she pretended it was fine "I'm kinda busy so just try to be quick ok? Is it important?"

"Umm… kind of… look I just wanted to know if we could all get together tonight so we could tell Tony, ya know?" she said.

A lump began to rise in her throat as she prayed Tony would be around tonight…. alive, she shuddered.

"Michelle?"

"Uh" she tried to keep her voice level "That's fine, I'll let you know later"

"Ok, thank you so much, love you" Gina smiled.

"Love you too, bye" she said hanging up and putting her face into her hands. She had to focus on making sure he was there tonight. She stood to go check Chloe's progress when her cell rang. 'Why can't everyone leave me alone, I'm trying to keep my husband alive..' she sighed spinning around and heading back to her desk, she saw the number was unrecognized and picked it up "Dessler"

"Hi baby, it's me" Tony said breathlessly.

"Tony?" she said with surprise "Where are you?"

"I got away, I'm on the east side of LAX"

She covered the receiver and said "Chloe get me a team to the airport to get Tony" she uncovered the phone "Sending a car now… are you ok?"

"Nothing major, I'm fine" he said and he heard her let out a sigh of relief "I'm sorry"

She was just so glad to hear his voice but she was surrounded by their co-workers so she had to act professionally "Where are the other team members?"

"Scattered, we'll have to find them one at a time"

"Ok I'm gonna patch you through to the secondary teams so you can relay information to find them" Michelle looked over at her other screen "A black expedition will be approaching you from the north entrance in 7 minutes, that's your car"

"Ok, I should be back in 20 minutes"

"Ok" she said leaving him to talk to the other teams as she re-coordinated the protocols.

Michelle counted, 23 minutes later Tony walked through the doors. She wanted to run to him, but couldn't so she watch the screen in front of her, it displayed the movement of the field teams that were bringing in the other team members.

"Hey" she heard his warm voice inches from her ear. No one was within 5 feet of them so he lowered his voice "Told ya I'd be back"

She looked at him as if to say 'Don't. Nothing you ever say can stop me from worrying when I hear gunshots and you suddenly go silent'

"Tony" Chloe said "We have 3 possible matches for the man you described can you come look at these pictures?"

"Ya" he said following her.

Michelle watched him as he walked away and noticed him limping slightly. Sighed and rubbed her temple walking back toward her desk.

_(Later)_

"You okay?" Tony asked as Michelle turned off the car once they pulled into their garage.

"Just tired" she said softly.

They got out of the car and went to the door that led to the house. Michelle began to enter her code as Tony wrapped his arms around her from behind. His soft warm embrace made her brain short-circuit. All day she had been longing for his touch and other than holding hands in the car this is the closest she'd been to him all day and it was perfect and unexpected. He could feel the effect he was having on her so he continued by kissing her behind her ear in a spot that he knew would bring her to knees. She couldn't think as he did this, so she messed up the code. Tony swept her off her feet and pushed his thumb against the device. It beeped and turned green and the door unlocked. He walked into the living room and laid her down on the couch as he continued to kiss her. He laid beside her and pulled her in close as the kiss slowed down and he ran his fingers through her hair slowly and she cradled the back of his head keeping him close to her. Finally, she had to break for air and she cuddled close to him.

"I called as soon as I could" he told her in a soft voice.

"I know"

"I understand you worrying about me… I get it because I know how I feel when it's _you_ out there" he said kissing her head "But just remember I will fight with everything I have to come home to you every day"

She buried her face even further into him and he held her. The phone began to ring. After a ring she pulled herself up and he took her face in his hands and smiled at her, she smiled softly back at him and he kissed her softly, then she headed to go get the phone. She returned a second later and sat right back down in his lap "Hello?"

"Hey it's Gina"

"Oh" Michelle said "Hey, you wanna come here around 7?"

"Sounds good" she smiled "See ya then, bye"

"Bye" she hung up.

"Gina's coming over for dinner"

_(Later)_

Tony opened the front door "Hey Gina" he said "Hurry, come in"

She quickly stepped in "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just don't like leaving Michelle alone in the kitchen" he smiled as they walked into the kitchen.

"I heard that" she muttered. She turned around with a bowl of salad and placed it on the table "What happened to your key?"

"I don't know" Gina sighed.

"Let us know…" Tony said "If you don't find it in 24 hours, we need to have all the locks replaced" he sighed putting a stack of plates on the table.

They heard the front door open "I'm sure it's just somewhere in my apartment"

Corey walked in and smiled "Hey guys" he said taking off his jacket.

"Hey" Michelle smiled "How was work?"

He smiled brightly "Boss told me as I was leaving that I did a great job today"

Michelle glanced over at Tony who smiled with pride at Corey "That's great" Tony said "Enough great days and you'll have yourself a raise"

"Or a promotion" Michelle smiled.

"Alright everyone grab a drink, dinner's ready" Tony said putting the spaghetti on the table. Michelle reached for the oven mitts and Tony smiled and slipped them out of her hands. "I got it baby" he kissed her forehead and she smiled.

10 minutes into dinner Gina cleared her throat and looked questioningly up at Michelle who nodded gently. Gina looked over at Corey who took a deep breath "Umm Tony" she said nervously.

He looked up at Gina.

"We got something to tell you" Corey said.

Tony looked back down and twirled his spaghetti around his fork seemingly unconcerned "Yea?"

"Me and Corey have become really close friends"

"We've decided we like each other even more than friends" Corey offered.

"And so we thought maybe we should date"

"And we have a little"

Tony didn't look up. This confused Corey and Gina. Shouldn't he be yelling? Lecturing? Give them the look of death? They looked to Michelle for answers. She met their eyes and returned to her food.

Gina decided to say more "We've been dating for a few months now…" she said.

Corey spoke "We just thought you should know"

"I've known" Tony said quietly. He could feel the two of them look to Michelle "She didn't tell me" he answered their question before they could ask it and said "I've known for 2 months" he wiped his mouth and finally looked up at them "I was just waiting for you to be honest with me about it"

As his hands, which rested on the table closed into fists, Michelle knew this was a small sign that his emotions were rising, not that he was going to use his fists, but that he was upset. She put her hand over his to silently remind him to stay calm. He opened his hand to allow hers to wrap around his.

"Reading people" Tony said "Figuring out their intentions" he said "Body language, subconscious signals that most people don't pick up on… it's what we _survive_ off of" he said slowly "It's what we get paid to do… it's how we can tell if someone's a thug or a kid who's having a hard time" he stopped "It's what we do best… and you are my sister of _course_ I noticed" he looked up "It's just sad it took this long for you to trust me enough to tell me"

"I didn't mean to upset you" Gina said.

"I'm sorry Tony" Corey said "And you too Michelle"

"You don't need to apologize" Tony said "We just need you two to be more honest with us, especially while you're in this house, ok?"

They both nodded.

_(Later)_

Tony walked into the bedroom to find Michelle in bed working on her CTU laptop. He crawled over to her and laid down next to her with a sigh. He looked up and began staring at the ceiling thinking about Gina and Corey.

"They're good kids" Michelle said softly.

"I know" he admitted.

"Ya know it's funny" Michelle closed her laptop "Sometimes it feels like Gina is our daughter or Corey is our adopted son" she slid down next to him "but they _are_ grown adults… we have a huge influence on them, but in the end…" she sighed and kissed his head.

"In the end they can do whatever they want and it's not our business" he finished.

"Outside this house" Michelle added.

He turned and smiled "Yea… no sex in this house"

Michele smiled and wiggled her eyebrows "Except for us"


	92. Chapter 92 Hell on the Heart

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Eric Church_)

~ Chapter 92 ~

KNOCK KNOCK

Tony and Michelle were tangled together in their pajamas on the couch after a long day with their eyes glued to the TV.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Get that" Michelle said nudging Tony, eyes glued to the TV, with a smirk.

"Uh uh" he protested nudging her back "You get it" he said munching some popcorn.

She snatched the bowl and smiled "You"

"Ok" he smiled standing up "But you owe me" he flickered his eyebrows.

She giggled "Oh yes, I am forever in your debt"

Tony opened the door to find Liz "Oh, hey, one sec"

Tony walked back into the living room and took the popcorn back from Michelle making himself comfortable "It's for you" he smiled.

She shot him a look "Seriously? You couldn't let them in?" She pulled herself up and hurried to the door "Liz" she said with surprise "It's late… are you ok?"

"I need to talk to you" she said and Michelle stepped to the side so she could come in.

Liz headed straight for the kitchen and as they passed the living room Michelle mumbled to Tony "I'll get _you_ later"

He smiled "I count on it"

_(Two hours later)_

Tony felt a poke on his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled "Hey you" he chuckled. Her head was cocked to the side and she wore a look of mock-annoyance "Oh what? You're still upset aren't you?"

She held up the empty bowl "You didn't even save me any?"

He gasped "I would die before forcing you to eat stale popcorn" he said innocently.

"You might just" she hitting him on the head lightly with the bowl.

He chuckled and pulled her close into his lap so he could rest his chin on her shoulder and whisper in her ear "What was up with Liz?"

"She's stressed out of her mind, just lost her job and her boyfriend is not helping" she smiled slightly "And as punishment for you I told her she can stay here as long as she likes"

His eyes widened in fear "You didn't"

She watched his face long enough to enjoy it "I didn't, she left 10 minutes ago"

He let out a sigh of relief "Thank God… in that case" he smiled "You wanna hear how the episode ended?" he teased knowing she hated it when he ruined the end.

"I could still call her back" Michelle said reaching for the phone.

Tony intercepted her hand and took it gently into his "Take it easy, I paused it so we can finish it together"

She smiled "You did?"

"Yes" he said turning the TV on to reveal the scene where they had left off "Now you _really_ owe me" he smiled kissing her cheek as he pushed play.

_(The next morning)_

He was fully dressed and ready to leave for work. Now… for his favorite part of the morning… "Sweetheart" he said gently squatting down to her level as she slept on the bed. Nothing. He smiled at her adorable bed head mixed with her completely innocent expression as she slept, knowing how completely not-innocent she had been the night before "Michelle" he smiled stroking her face.

Her eyes began to move and then opened "You leaving?" she said in a light voice.

He sighed "Ya, I let Garren out"

"K" she said rubbing her eyes.

"So what are your big plans while I'm gone today?"

"Lunch with the girls… trying to talk Liz out of her boyfriend and bankruptcy, which happen to coincide sadly"

"How thoughtful" he laughed kissing her forehead "Good luck" he smiled touching her nose with a smile "I'll call you later"

"Ok" she smiled watching him disappear down the hall.

_(Later)_

"I cannot believe I'm hearing this" Liz said.

"We are not trying to hurt your feelings" Katie said softly.

"Honey he's no good for you" Allison rubbed her shoulder.

Michelle knew Liz had given him her credit card and he had gone crazy gambling and other questionable charges with it "Your money problems are not your fault and if he really loved you he wouldn't-"

"Stop" Liz said wiping a tear "We can still be in love, even if we are poor… not everyone gets to marry a rich guy like Tony"

Michelle sat back in her seat "First of all… I didn't know about Tony's inheritance until _after_ we were engaged… And second, I _know_ that money has nothing to do with love, but I also know that people who love you don't knowingly throw away everything you've earned"

"You're saying he doesn't really love me?" she began to break down.

"I'm saying you deserve better"

"Why am I always the one with guy problems?" she cried "Is it me?"

"It's not you" Allison said quickly "We all have problems with our men sometimes" she smiled "Last month me and Ben didn't speak for two days, we had a fight"

"Yea" Katie said "Jake spent a night on the couch last week" she smiled.

They looked to Michelle. She looked around nervously "Uh... Jay was a disaster"

"Jay was ancient history" Liz said.

Michelle thought for a second "Oh" she said pretending not to realize they were still waiting for her contribution.

"You can't give her one example? To make her feel better?" Katie said.

"Um" she thought "He…" she tried to think "He always buys me the wrong tampons" she tried to sound upset, even though she actually found it cute.

Liz rolled her eyes "No guy I've ever dated would even be willing to do that"

"Same here" Allison laughed and waited a minute "Really?" she smiled sipping her coffee "You can't come up with one thing?"

"Sorry" Michelle said shrugging her shoulders.

"Give it time" Liz said sourly.

"Alright enough" Katie laughed "Don't hate"

"Anyone want some more coffee?" Allison asked getting up.

"Micheeeeeeeeelle" a small familiar voice called "Answer your teeeeeeelephooone" It was his voice, she knew instantly, but he wasn't here… answer the? Oh! She quickly snapped up her purse "Michelle Elizabeth Almeidaaaaa" she pulled out her phone, the source of his voice and shook her head as the phone began to ring with him saying "Micheeeeeeeeeelle"

She flipped it open "You changed my ringtone to your voice calling my name?"

"What?" he thought for a second "Ohh yea" he began laughing "I forgot I did that" he started laughing harder at her situation.

"Not. Funny." she struggled not to smile.

"Really?" he laughed "I thought it was pretty clever… I got bored while you were at work that day you forgot your phone at home"

"I remember" she shook her head "So what's up?"

"I need the access code for that Wilson directory"

"Why?" Michelle said "Those protocols will…" she stopped and realized she couldn't say much with other people around "You're not going into the field are you?"

"I will call you if I am, but I doubt it"

She thought for a second, she trusted him "6-lincoln-8-4-bravo" she said in a low voice.

"Thanks I'll call you later" he said softly.

"Ok" she said closing the phone.

"Everything ok?" Katie asked.

Michelle nodded "We're missing some people at work and it's starting to cause some problems"

"Nice ringtone" Allison laughed.

She rolled her eyes "Yea, it's ok cause I hid the remote where he'll never find it… he just doesn't know it yet" she smiled.

"Ooo payback!" Katie laughed "But see you're going easy on him… I'd give him the couch for that"

"I can't do that" Michelle laughed.

"Why not?"

"I can't sleep" Michelle said "I wind up going down and getting under the covers on the couch with him just so I can fall asleep"

"You two are so cute" Allison smiled looking over at the wall, seeing a picture of her daughter "So when are you two having kids?"

Michelle sipped her coffee "I don't know" she said "We know we can't have kids now with how dangerous our job is, it wouldn't be fair… Tony's been poking around to find a way we can transfer to a different branch so that we are not in the field"

"So wait you actually shoot people? And like fight bad guys?" Katie eyes widened with a smile "Like every day?"

"Yea" Michelle said "Not _every_ day… Tony would never allow it… but yea"

"He does too?"

She sighed "Yea and I hate it… especially lately with our field ops leader out on assignment… it's so scary, I mean sometimes he's in and out, other times we lose him and" she shuddered and stopped "It's the worst feeling in the world"

"We just had a cop die in our town last week" Katie said shaking her head.

"Yea, but this is a little worse" Michelle sighed "We are not dealing with crack-heads and bank-robbers… the people we are up against are out to get us and they are systematic with bombs and snipers and entire networks of people with them"

"My God" Allison said "I'd be terrified if my husband were out in that"

Michelle nodded as her phone beeped. She pulled it out 'Hi I'm gonna take Jon's shift for him cuz he's sick so I won't be home til 10' the text message said.

"Tony again? Is he going out?" Allison said with worry.

"No" Michelle answered putting the phone away "That was Corey"

"Corey?"

"A kid me and Tony are helping onto his feet" Michelle explained "Now he's got a job, we gave him a phone for his birthday, a car this past Christmas and he's paying the bills for them himself and hopefully someday he'll be able to get an apartment of his own" Michelle told them "He's a really good kid"

"There you are! _He_ told me you'd be coming in today" an excited male voice called from across the coffee shop.

A smile spread across Michelle's face "Oh like that's some big secret, we are both here _every _day" she said "at _least_ once"

"And that's why you are my _favorite_ customers" he smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, you probably say that to everyone" she smiled sipping her coffee "You only like us because this is the only place we buy our coffee"

"I love you because you two are so _cute_ and speaking of which" he squatted down to Michelle's level and lowered his voice "He told me what he's planning for your birthday and-"

"Don't" Michelle stopped him putting her finger up "I can't _believe_ you are in on this too!" she laughed

He smiled "I thought it was nice, you will love it-"

She cut him off "Stop, stop stop… it's bad enough he's always teasing me, I don't need to hear it from you too" she shook her head.

"So you don't want me to give you a hint?" he smiled.

She laughed "No!"

_(That night)_

"What does this say? I can't read the really small letters" Michelle said pointing to the cooking instructions on the popcorn.

He laughed and took it out of her hands and tossed it in the microwave. He then motioned for her to come closer. She stared at him with a pout as if to say 'I'mwarning you…_don't_ mock me.' She stepped closer and he pointed to a button on the microwave that said 'Popcorn' and he smiled holding in his laughter.

"Can you read that one?" he said beginning to laugh.

She smacked his arm "Shut up" she scolded trying not to laugh "If you would just be a _good_ husband and make it for me we wouldn't have this problem… would we?"

"Old ladyyyyy" he laughed "They say the eyes go first… how old you gonna be next week? Is it 29? Or 92?"

"Well with you I think it's gonna be the nose that 'goes first' " she said putting up her little fist, which he took into his hand and kissed.

"Take it easy, think about your blood pressure" he joked "Don't you wanna make it to your birthday so you can get that gift?" he smiled.

"Speaking of which" she said "I'm gonna kill you for telling Jeff, now he's teasing me too!"

Tony laughed and took the popcorn out of the microwave.

"Hey that's mine!" she protested as he opened the bag.

"Get your own" he said holding the bag close to him and running into the living room.

He headed to the couch but she was right on top of him and he let her win the popcorn back so he could wrap his arms around her instead. Their movie was just starting and she snuck peaks at him, slowly moving her eyes to look at him and then quickly looking back at the TV with a smile when he looked at her. They both laughed and she fed him popcorn over her shoulder.

20 minutes later Michelle heard her cell ring. She made a move to get it but Tony grabbed her arm "Don't answer" he said pulling her down into an embrace so tight she couldn't move and she loved it. She closed her eyes and felt his warmth all around her, this is how she wanted to die, completely surrounded by his love with his soft breathing on her neck. Her phone finally stopped ringing and he let her go. She smiled and kissed him slowly, but the house phone began ringing.

"Baby, it's gotta be important if they are calling both phones" she said softly.

He picked up the phone "Hello?"

"Is Ms. Dessler there?" an analyst asked, Tony recognized the voice.

"Sharron it's Tony, what's going on?"

"Sir we need Michelle in right away, another unit has a vital operation that will go south in the next 2 hours without her help"

"Why?"

"Sir, I'm not sure of all the details, but Director Jameson said she was the only match for an undercover position he needs filled now, he said terrible things could happen if this situation is not taken care of"

"Why weren't we brought in earlier! Look I know it's not your fault… look I'll call you right back" he said hanging up.

"I heard" she said. She slowly stood up but he took her hand. She looked down at him.

"I think this is a bad idea, it sounds like a sinking ship and I don't know what Director Jameson is doing, but I cannot control him or this operation and I don't think it's safe"

"It sounds like they really need me, if I can stop whatever disaster they are fighting, that's my job and I have to go"

"I wish you wouldn't" he said softly.

"I know" she said leaning down to kiss him softly, savoring his touch as he stroked her face softly "Call them and find out where they need me, I'm going to get dressed"

_(20 minutes later)_

Michelle pulled her car out of the driveway and Tony watched her drive away into the darkness. He closed the door and went back and sat on the couch. He looked at the show paused on TV and wished that phone call had never come. Less than an hour ago she was in his arms and now he was alone. He heard the door click as the locks opened and someone stepped in. He turned around "Michelle?"

"Uh, not really" Gina said with a smile.

Tony rolled his eyes and sighed "What are you doing here?"

"Eh, was getting kinda lonely, figured I'd come here for the night" she said "Is everything ok?"

"Michelle just left… had to go to work" he said rubbing his face.

"Why do you look so twitchy?" she said sitting next to him.

"Twitchy?"

"Nervous" she corrected.

He sighed "She's going on a dangerous mission and I'm really worried"

Gina sighed and looked down not sure how to comfort him "She'll be back, she knows what she's doing"

He put his face into his hands "I just want her to come home"

"Why don't you just go to sleep to pass the time?"

"I can't sleep without her, plus I'll have the same nightmare I always have when she's in the field"

"What is your nightmare about?" she asked.

"Well… it's more of a memory then a nightmare" he sighed "One day a few months before Michelle and I started dating, a team from CTU, including Michelle got kidnapped, by the time we found them she was dying on the floor in a pool of blood"

"But she _lived_" Gina said optimistically.

"No, she died, crying in my arms… that's what I see in my head every time she leaves for a mission" he said rubbing his face "I revived her once we got into the helicopter but it was the scariest thing that ever happened to me… I just really hate this part of our job…and I can't even oversee the operation because it's out of my jurisdiction" he sighed "No one has ever been able to so _effortlessly_ drive me completely _insane_"

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Gina smiled.

"Both" he smiled "But for the most part…. I'd say that ….because it's the one thing I can't live without, it's a good thing"

_Yeah she's good when she's bad  
She's cute when she's mad  
And she does all the wrong things right  
Yeah boy it's a fact when they're made like that  
You ain't ever gonna sleep at night_

She's as pretty as a picture  
Every bit as funny as she is smart  
Got a smile that'll hold you together  
And a touch that'll tear you apart  
When she's yours she brings the sunshine  
When she's gone the world goes dark  
Yeah she's heaven on the eyes  
But boy she's hell on the heart  
Yeah she's hell on the heart


	93. Chapter 93 They Try

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

_Sorry this took so long… finals killed me… that and I've been working on Chapter 100 which is already 20 pages long and still growing! :)_

_Here it is, longer than most to make up for the fact that it took so long:)_

_Review3_

~ Chapter 93 ~

"What do you wanna have for dinner?" Tony said closing the kitchen cabinet as Michelle sat on the counter swinging her legs.

"I dunno what do _you_ wanna have for dinner?" she asked with a smile.

He rolled his eyes as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her kissing her "We are never going to eat at this rate"

"Just pick something, it doesn't matter to me" she said in between kisses.

"You women and your indecisiveness"

She pulled back "Watch it with the 'you women' nonsense because the only time _you men_ complain that we are indecisive is when you ask us to make the decision you couldn't even make yourself" he thought for a second and smiled as she continued bringing her lips closer to his "Prime example… you couldn't decide what to make so you asked me… and because I don't immediately have an answer I'm indecisive?"

He chuckled and kissed her as the phone rang. He pulled back "Ok" he pointed to the phone "We'll narrow it down" he said "First letter of the first word they say is the first letter of what I make for dinner"

She nodded as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi honey its Mom"

"Hey Mom" he said rolling his eyes. They both knew no conversation with Bella was ever less than half an hour long. Michelle pretended to faint from hunger and Tony tried not to giggle into the phone.

"Your grandmother is in town"

Tony stopped "What?"

"Yea she heard about your father and finally got the car fixed to make the trip… she felt bad enough she missed your wedding"

"Wow that's right she's never even met Michelle"

"She's asking for you" his mother smiled "First person she wants to see is you"

"I _have_ always been her favorite for some reason" he smiled "we'll have to come visit sometime this week"

"She'll be so excited"

"Ok we'll I gotta go Mom, but I'll call you later"

"Ok bye honey"

Tony hung up the phone "Hamburgers?" They both shook their heads.

"Hot dogs?" no

"Ham?" nope

"Horse-radish?"

He stopped and stared at her "_Horse-radish?_"

"I couldn't think of anything else" she laughed "that was a crappy letter" she said then the phone rang again and she smiled.

He picked it up but held it between them so she could hear "Hello" he said.

"Tony?" his mother said.

"Yea?" he sighed.

"Don't forget to bring your sister when you come"

"Of course"

"Ok bye"

He hung up and they smiled at each other and said at the same time "Tacos!"

_(The next day)_

"Look who it is!" Bella smiled opening the door.

A small plump old lady hobbled into sight. Her naturally impatient-looking face melted into a huge grin at the sight of Tony "My Tony! Oh my Tony!" she said with glistening eyes as he hurried over to give her a gentle hug. Michelle smiled as she watched.

"Come on in" Bella said inviting Michelle and Gina in "Where's this boyfriend I've been hearing all about?" she asked.

Gina smiled "I'll bring him back this weekend, today he had an important meeting" she explained.

"Abuela this is Michelle" Tony said turning with a smile and pointing to Michelle, taking her hand to pull her closer to them.

The woman's face went back to its natural scowl as she looked her up and down and her small dark penetrating eyes stared deep into Michelle's eyes. Michelle smiled softly, but was slightly afraid of this small woman "It's so nice to finally meet you" Michelle tried.

The old woman was unconvinced "Soon we see" she said with a polite smile. She looked past Michelle and spotted Gina "Oh my little baby girl look at you!" she said moving past them and walking over to Gina.

Michelle looked up at Tony questioningly and he smiled and whispered "This is the woman who raised my mother… you remember what my mother was like when she met you?" he chuckled and put his arm around her "She will come around, she's just protecting me"

Michelle groaned internally, she definitely thought they were past awkward introductions by the second year of marriage "This should be interesting" she murmured.

"And where is this man your mother tell me?" she asked Gina.

"I'll bring him later, I promise" Gina smiled down at her.

At this she turned around and looked up at Michelle "You like coffee?"

Michelle glanced at Tony then looked back at the lady "Yes, very much"

"Come with me" she said and they all followed her into the kitchen and sat around the table passing the coffee pot.

"How was the drive here?" Bella asked.

"Not bad, almost no traffic" Tony answered as Michelle kept his eyes on him, pretending not to notice Abuela staring at her.

"You have beautiful hair" Abuela said simply "You get that from your mother?"

Michelle caught off-guard by the compliment "I do"

"How is your mother?" she asked. Tony smiled as he recognized this as the beginning of the interrogation, when they first started dating Tony had taken control and saved Michelle from his mother's interrogation because of Michelle's fragile state, but at this point he fully confident she could take whatever his Abuela threw at her and his intervention would upset his Abuela so he let it play out.

"She passed away"

"Your father?" she continued.

"Prison" Michelle said bluntly. Michelle could tell this woman did not want any games and she would figure out the truth so there was no point dancing around the truth, and Michelle suspected Tony's Abuela would respect her straightforwardness.

"For?"

"Killing the man who killed my mother"

The woman smiled and thought for a second "Tell me about my grandson"

This one caught Tony by surprise, but Michelle didn't skip a beat, she smiled "His name is Anthony Marcus Almeida, born June 21st at 3:27PM, his favorite color's blue, he'll tell you he's not ticklish but he is…in two places, he swears up and down he hates chick flicks but he actually enjoys them, he uses my toothbrush every morning and thinks I don't know but I do, he likes to play video games but likes being distracted from them even more, he wants to have kids someday, at least on boy and one girl, he knows how to play the guitar, but won't… for most people, he's protective and loyal yet inviting and open-minded, he can't sleep with his socks on, he loves to play sports but doesn't like watching them on TV, he never ties his shoes he keeps them tied and slips them on and off, he grew up in Chicago, he's stubborn in the most adorable ways and will also pretend to hate being described as 'adorable' when really, he loves it…" she looked up "I could literally go on for hours, but uh" she looked up at Tony who had glassy eyes "I don't think he could take it" she smiled.

Tony's Abuela smiled and sat back in her chair in astonishment, she knew she liked Michelle, but still figured she'd throw in one final question "And how much do you love my grandson?"

"I can't put that into words"

The old lady smiled up at Tony "She's the one, this I know" she said putting up her finger.

Tony cocked his jaw to the side and smiled rubbing tears from his eyes "Ya think?" he chuckled sarcastically.

She stared at Michelle and grinned "I'm not easy to win over… I've never decided I liked someone _that _quickly" she laughed "not even my _husband_"

Michelle's phone rang. She shot an apologetic look at Tony … a look that said she would ignore the call if he wanted, but he nodded in response to tell her she should take it. "I'm so sorry, I have to take this" she apologized heading away.

"Who was that?" Abuela asked.

"Probably work, otherwise she would have ignored it"

"Where does she work?"

"With me" Tony said.

"So it could be an emergency?"

"Let's hope not" he sighed sitting back in his chair. He thought for a minute or two and smiled softly.

"What is it?" Abuela smiled at his smile. He looked up and shrugged. She smiled wider "Don't play games Tony, I see that smile, what is it?"

"How did you know so quickly?" he asked "You've never liked any of my girlfriends and I even told them what to say! But with Michelle it took minutes, this is not like you"

"So many people… _especially_ women, know how to put up a front, you know? Put on a different personality for different people… it takes me longer to get know those women because they are so complicated, I don't want to play games and I know just the things to ask and look for… I know people Tony… and that girl" she said "That girl is _real_, she don't play games, she shows me respect by telling me the truth, no games, that's the first thing I like… and when I asked her about you? I expected her to choke, most girls would… even good ones, you here, your family, me…. it's intimidating… it's not easy… but she didn't even have to _think_ about it…and even more is what I saw in her eyes, love was in her eyes as she said all those words, so much love and Tony _love doesn't lie_"

She looked up and Michelle was standing next to her.

Abuela smiled and looked back at Tony and seriously said "You remember that Tony…_ love doesn't lie_"

Everyone sat for second and let the words sink in "So who is this boy?" Abuela said turning to Gina.

She smiled "His name is Corey"

"Mmm" she sipped her coffee "And where did you meet this 'Corey'?"

Gina shot a pleading look to Michelle, Michelle always knew what to say.

Gina inwardly let out a sigh of relief as Michelle stepped in "I introduced them actually"

_(A month later)_

"Your turn!" laughed Liz.

"Ok, ok" Katie said pulling a card from the stack. She thought for a second and turned to Michelle with a huge smile. She put her arms out in front of her then blew up her cheeks and thrusted her arms back and forward and back and forward then stopped and began gliding over the floor silently.

"Ohh!" Liz said "Swimming no… ice skating!"

Allison looked over at Michelle who was watching out the front window. Her smile faded when she saw the sad look on Michelle's face "Michelle what's wrong?"

"Ok that's definitely diving!" Liz kept guessing.

Michelle looked at Allison sighed "Tony said he'd be home an hour ago, just worried"

"Where is he anyway?" Allison asked.

"I don't know he's been coming home from work really late lately on the days we don't work together… I don't know maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I'm worried he's not home yet"

"You think he's cheating?" Allison said quietly.

"No, no" Michelle said confidently "I just wanna know that he's ok"

"Who's cheating?" Liz asked.

"No one, Tony's just been coming home late lately" Allison said.

"Michelle" Liz said sadly "Don't be blind to it, hopefully it's not true but keep your eyes open"

"I can tell you for a fact he's not cheating so stop it" Michelle said and looked up at Katie "And Katie…it's the Olympics"

"Yes!" she sighed "Finally someone got it!" she laughed sitting down and adding 10 points to Michelle's score.

"Did you check the accounts? See if he's spending money when he's late?"

"You know what?" Michelle said standing up "Enough! Really, enough! I know my husband and you are all wrong!" Tony opened the door behind her, but she didn't notice "So just shut up about it!"

Tony threw his head back in confusion and surprise, he had no idea why his wife was yelling at all her friends, he rested his gentle warm hands on her shoulders "Easy killer" he chuckled kissing the top of her head.

She jumped slightly but he held her "Oh, hey sweetheart" she smiled "I was worried"

"I know I'm sorry my phone died" he said.

"Oh that's right you were going to put it on the charger last night but then I-" she blushed at the memory, it had been a long and fun night for them.

"Uh huh" he laughed and stroked her red cheek "So I guess that makes it _your_ fault" he chuckled.

"Don't act like you tried to fight it" she muttered with a smile.

He out his hands up in the air to show his innocence "I won't lie, I never fight you when it comes to that" he smiled turning to head up the stairs.

"Sounds like he has his hands full with you as it is" Katie giggled.

"Yea I keep him busy" Michelle laughed.

_(Later)_

"Is this a joke?"

"I would be a terrible person if this were a joke"

"Oh my god I didn't know it was even possible"

"Yea well I made it happen… so are you gonna help me?" Tony said beginning to get impatient with this woman whom he did not really like all that much.

"Of course I will" Liz said "Wow so that's what you've been coming home late for…" she let out a laugh "She was beginning to think you were cheating on her"

"No she wasn't, she knows better" he said shortly "That was probably you" he smiled.

Liz laughed "Just lookin out for my girl"

"Don't worry, I've got her" he assured her. Tony was perfectly capable of protecting Michelle, he didn't need Liz trying to protect her.

"So what time do I distract her until?"

"7PM should be perfect"

"Ok I'll make the call in a few minutes" Liz said.

"Thanks" Tony said hanging up and grabbing the groceries he had gotten and heading into the house.

"Sweetheart I'm home" Tony called as he walked in and heard music playing throughout the house. She walked in and smile at the sight of him, wrapping her arms around him kissing him tenderly. She smiled and rubbed her nose against his.

She glanced over at the bags "What did you get?"

"Our favorite ice cream and some snacks"

Her eyes lit up "Movie night?"

"Yup" he smiled kissing her and then letting her go so she could look through the bags. The phone rang. Without looking she reached over and put it between her head and shoulder "Hello?"

"Hey Michelle it's Lizzie"

"Hey Liz what's up?" she said casually picking up a can of prunes out of the bag and making a disgusted face at Tony as Liz talked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner with me tomorrow, there's this new restaurant I wanna try"

"Hold on" she said covering the bottom of the phone and turning to Tony "You'll be home for dinner tomorrow right?" she asked. If Tony was gonna be home she'd say no to Liz because she felt like Tony was away too much lately and would rather spend the time with him.

"I'm probably gonna be late tomorrow" he said.

Her smile faded into disappointment "Yea sure Liz sounds good, what time?"

_(Later)_

When the movie was over Tony carried Michelle up to bed. He laid her down gently and took off his shirt crawling into the bed next to her. He pulled her close and closed his eyes "Goodnight Sweetheart" he whispered thinking she was already asleep.

"Wait" she said in a small weak voice "don't go to sleep yet"

"What's the matter baby?" he asked with concern.

She wanted to know why he was always late, but knew it wasn't anything bad because Tony would never hurt her and she trusted him with her life and she _knew_ that if she asked he'd tell her and she'd feel silly for asking because he'd have a good reason, but she still missed him. "I miss you"

"I'm right here" he said softly pulling her in tighter.

"I know, but… it just feels like I can never get enough of you and lately I've been missing you even more with you coming home late" she said nuzzling her face into his neck. They were silent for a minute then she pulled her face up so they were nose to nose "I just want to spend every second I have with you because right now all I can take for granted is this second… because the future is unknown… especially with our jobs… who knows if I'm gonna get to snuggle up to you like this tomorrow… it's scary… so… I miss you…a lot"

"Well" Tony smiled "Lucky for you, I've been taking some time at work to look into new jobs for us" he stroked her cheek "Jobs where we can still help people the way we do now… just minus the fieldwork…. Jobs where we are never asked to put our lives on the line"

She smiled, there it was, 'that's what was keeping him late' she thought "Oh Tony that's so great!" she smiled.

"Yea" he smiled "Because trust me" he said softly "You're not the only one scared to death of what tomorrow might bring… or take away"

"You know I'm dedicated to my job… but no job is worth losing you over"

"My thoughts exactly"

_(The next day)_

"So that's when I told him to get a life, get a job and get a new girlfriend" Liz smiled.

"Good for you!" Michelle laughed as she felt her phone vibrate "I'm sorry just one moment"

"Dessler"

"Hey Michelle, Tony left in a rush and forgot to leave the code for the overnights" an analyst said.

"He's not answering his phone?" Michelle asked.

"No he's not, is he with you?" she asked.

"No… but try ilmda812"

"Ok" the person said "Wow, that was it, thanks!"

"No problem" Michelle said hanging up "Wow Tony got out on time today" Michelle said. They talked for another 30 minutes and then Michelle wanted to leave and get home to Tony, but it was only 6:30.

"I think I'm gonna head home now, this was fun" Michelle smiled.

"No" Liz said "Hang out a little longer, I'm lonely with no boyfriend"

Michelle stopped packing her purse and decided to stay for her friend "Let's talk about getting you a new boyfriend"

_Nobody thought that we'd last as long as we have  
I guess we showed 'em  
Now I don't mean to brag  
We're pretty good at keepin' what we got goin'_

I guess we beat the odds  
Hey, how 'bout us?

You know I'll kiss you downtown  
Right there on your mouth with everyone staring  
I don't mind if they see just what you mean to me  
Girl, that's something worth sharing

Love's a beautiful thing  
Hey, let it catch on

Our best days are up ahead  
Girl, we ain't done yet  
No, far from it!

In this crazy world of mirrors and smoke  
Where hearts can get broke and forever's so hard to find  
People still dream, and people still hope  
That someday they'll get it right  
A love like yours and mine is why they try,  
They try, they try

_(Later)_

Michelle drove down her street but slowed down when she noticed Danny's van on her street, it had been parked a few houses away for some reason but she knew the license plates. She slowly turned into the driveway as the garage door opened and she pulled in. She walked in slowly not sure what to expect.

"Surprise!" the people said. She smiled but she was utterly confused, there was no holiday, her birthday was months ago. She looked around Tony, Danny, DJ, Kayla, Candice-" her breath caught in her throat when she was who was sitting on the couch. Her father.

She had not seen him without the stripes and fluorescent lights in so many years this must be a dream, but for some reason it gave her the sensation of a nightmare. Everyone was still clapping and smiling, but Michelle felt tears run down her face as she took a step back. Tony became worried and rushed over to her as she started crying and turned around and went back into the garage. Once they were alone in the garage he held her as she let it all out.

"W-what is going on?" she asked taking sharp breaths as she cried.

"They let him go early, he's home now" Tony said with a gentle smile.

"How?" Michelle whispered.

"Good behavior plus a great lawyer plus a lot of money" he smiled.

She rested her head on his chest and tried to calm herself down .

"This is why I've been coming home so late… meetings with the lawyer and stuff" he said "I'm surprised you never asked"

"I trusted you" she kissed him softly and laid her head back on his chest trying to hear his heartbeat as she slowed her breathing, but it wasn't working yet.

He picked her up and sat her on the workbench so she wouldn't have to stand "You gonna be ok Sweetheart? I didn't mean to upset you" he said slightly worried.

"I kno- I know baby" she said between sharp breaths "I just… I don't know why I'm-"

"Shh" he pulled her back in "Just breathe, we can talk when you're ready"

"I'm, I'm sorry" she said once her breathing was almost back to normal.

"You have nothing to apologize for" he said stroking her face "Now what's goin on?"

"I wasn't ready for that" she sniffed "I mean… I'm so happy he's home, but that just knocked the wind outta me"

"I'm sorry baby" he said.

"No, no you did a beautiful thing, you had no idea I'd react like this… I wouldn't have even guessed I'd react like this" she shook her head.

"It's like he was dead and now he's on our couch and it was scary and sudden" Tony said.

She looked straight up into his eyes "Yes" she whispered "that's _exactly_ it" she was amazed at how easily he could read her.

"It was the look in your eye that told me"

She gave him a weak smile and let him hold her for a few minutes "I wanna go see him now" she said finally.

"Ok, let's go" Tony smiled putting his arm around her.

Right before she opened the door she turned around to him and wrapped her hands around the back of his head pulling his face to hers, kissing him passionately "Thank you" she said breathlessly kissing him again "I love you so much"

They walked back in and DJ ran up to Michelle "Aunt Michelle Grandpa's here!"

Michelle smiled and picked him up and sniffed "I know honey, I saw"

"Don't be sad Aunt Michelle" DJ said.

"I'm not" she smiled "I'm happy, this is happy crying"

"Daddy says maybe it's that time of month… but I don't know what that means" everyone laughed.

"Sounds to me like Daddy is just as clueless as you in this case" she smiled and everyone laughed again.

She put DJ down and walked up to her father and looked into his glassy eyes "I'm so glad you're home" she said hugging him

"I'm sorry beautiful, that was one hell of a surprise, wasn't it?" he laughed in her ear and then let her go.

She smiled and nodded her head then glanced over at Tony "The best gifts are always the ones you never dreamed you could have"


	94. Chapter 94 She Flys Me Away

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jason Derulo_)

~ Chapter 94 ~

"Good morning" Tony smiled walking into the kitchen to find Michelle's Dad sitting at the kitchen table staring out the window.

He looked up and smiled "Hey, it's my favorite man" he sighed "Got me out of jail"

Tony smiled "You didn't belong there in the first place"

"No I did" he said.

"Well then I guess I should turn myself in" Tony chuckled.

Dan smiled "You know I never thanked you for taking such great care of her" he said sincerely "You really…" he looked around at the house "you've really given her more than I ever could of dreamed for her… you see…" Tony sat down across from him "When you have a child…especially a _daughter_… as a father you find yourself fighting and worrying if she'll grow up and be happy and safe… you pray every night for this great guy to take care of her, a guy you can trust never to hurt her and Tony I'm so glad-"

They heard the sound of Michelle running down the stairs. She strode into the kitchen with a smile as she struggled with her bracelet. A breeze of freshness followed her in "Hey Dad" she stopped and smiled. She looked amazingly professional and it made him so proud of her, she was so grown up and beautiful. She leaned over and kissed him on the head "You sleep ok?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you beautiful"

"Do you want some coffee?" she said spinning around pulling some coffee supplies out of the cabinet "We used to set it to brew automatically, but for the past year we've been going to this cute little coffee shop every morning instead" she said trying to pull the filters apart. Tony smiled and walked up behind her helping her, she giggled as he did it with ease. She put the coffee into the filter and pushed the button. "Thank you" she smiled kiss him softly and turning around to grab a coffee cup. She heads over to the table "Here Dad it should be done in a minute"

"Michelle" Tony said motioning for him to come to him. She walked over and he gently slipped the bracelet out of her hands and wrapped it around her wrist, then clamped it.

She smiled "I love you" she kissed him "Now go get ready you're gonna be late for your conference"

"_You're_ already late" he smiled.

"I know" she said grabbing her purse from the counter "Dad help yourself to anything, call me anytime, my number's on the fridge, and Tony, I'll call you soon"

"Ok Sweetie" Tony said as she disappeared into the garage.

Dan smiled as he gazed at a picture of Tony and Michelle at the park "All I know is, because of you" he smiled up at Tony "I don't have to worry about her anymore"

_(Later)_

Kim smiled as Michelle walked in "Hey Michelle, no Tony today?"

"He has to be at division for a conference, just me today"

"That's ok, I mean Tony's a great boss, but I'm kinda tired of men"

Michelle let out a small laugh "Yea I'm hopelessly out-numbered in my house… 4 to 1" she said and pushed the door to the conference room "Ok good morning has everyone been briefed on the Tolis cell?"

_(Later that evening)_

The doorbell rang and Tony dried rinsed the flour off his hands and grabbed a paper towel heading toward the door. He opened it and smiled "Hey, where have you been?"

Dan smiled and stepped in. Tony gave a wave to the driver of the CTU SUV in the street. "Michelle sent that guy to drive me over to see my house"

Tony nodded "And?" he asked as they headed back into the kitchen.

"You ever been there?"

"Once" Tony said "Michelle and I had just started dating and Danny had disappeared, so I drove her there to look for him" Tony put the tray in the oven "I had no idea about you or Danny so I was puzzled when she froze like a statue at the front door and broke down crying when we went inside"

Dan sighed "Yea… Danny told me last night" he thought for a second "The place needs a good cleaning, but surprisingly everything's working heat, air conditioning, and water"

"I was gonna send some cleaners over and have the electricity turned back on, but wanted to ask permission, Michelle said you might like to stay here for a while instead"

"Ah Tony you're too generous" he chuckled "You've done enough for me already"

"I'll never be able to repay you for what you've given me, so don't even give it a second thought" he smiled setting the timer on the oven "I'm more than happy to do everything I can"

"And what have I given you?"

Tony sat down and twisted a dish towel in his hands "A warmth in my heart I've never felt before, the happiest days of my life, the woman who makes my life worth living, a smile on my face every night as I go to sleep and a reason to wake up in the morning" Danny smiled and Tony finished "Your daughter"

"I wish I could take credit for her, but I'm afraid I don't deserve it"

"Well you're at least half the reason she exists so…" Tony smiled "So let me get ya some cleaners and electricity?"

"Alright"

"Sweetheart?" they heard as she stepped through the door from the garage. Tony and Dan smiled at each other.

_(Early the next morning)_

"We lost him" the doctor said as he stepped away from Davir Tolis's body.

"What do you mean we lost him?" Chase yelled "He was our final lead!"

"Chase we picked something up off that trace, Tolis tried to call his brother, I have an address, you want me to prepare a team?"

"No no no" Chase said "These people are on a hair trigger… they suspect _anything_ they will start setting the bombs off… we have to do this undercover"

"You know we don't have time for that" she said.

He sighed "We have to figure something out… wake Tony and Michelle up"

The phone rang. Tony heard it but decided to just pretend like it didn't exist in the hope it would go away.

Then it rang again and he knew he would have to get it. He reached over Michelle as she slept soundly and picked up the phone "Hello?"

"Tony it's Chloe"

"Oh no" he sighed "_Anyone_ but you"

"We need you both here now"

"What? I can't hear you… you're breaking up" he said hanging up.

Chloe hung up the phone and Chase looked down at her "What did he say?"

"He'll be here in 15 minutes" she rolled her eyes.

_(17 minutes later)_

Tony and Michelle strode into CTU. "Alright what do we have Chase?"

"Tolis is dead, but we got something on his brother who is definitely in with him"

"Ok but we can't just ambush them so what are you thinking?"

"We need to get close to him covertly" Chase said.

"We just need to figure out how to do that" Chloe said.

"Ok, so what's his life like? Who does he associate with? Where does he live? What does he do in his spare time? Where does he work?" Michelle asked Chloe.

"We don't know much about him, he keeps his head down" Chase said.

"There's gotta be something" Tony said and they went to work.

A little while later Michelle spoke up "Hey, here I got something!" she said "I found what he does for a living, it was hard to find because he used a different name but here…" she pointed to the screen "He owns a divorce firm"

"Ok so that means we need to send two agents undercover posing as potential clients to retrieve any information from his office"

"But we need to get two field agents, fabricate their life story, why they are getting divorced…this takes _time_" Chloe said in frustration.

"It doesn't have to" Tony glanced at Michelle and she gave a small nod as she headed off toward the locker rooms "We got this" he said turning to follow her.

"They don't even have fake identities or storyline, what the hell do they think they're doing?"

"They're improvising"

_(20 minutes later)_

Chloe was following them down the hall "Ok you are Robert and Jennifer Torres…. These files will tell you where you were born and grew up, but that's all I had time to do" Chloe said with a pout.

"We can handle it from here, thank you, just be ready on Comm" Tony said handing the files to Michelle and following her out to the SUV.

On the way Tony and Michelle stopped by their favorite coffee shop "Ok we have 20 minutes until the firm opens" Tony said.

"Won't we need an appointment?" Michelle asked sipping her coffee.

"Nah this is one of those sleezy 'Get a divorce for only $299.95 only one signature required' places"

She laughed "Is that even legal?"

"I have no idea, it doesn't sound legal" he smiled "Out of all the things I thought we'd be doing on our day off" he laughed "I thought we'd go for a walk, go out to lunch or have sex but no…"

"We're getting divorced" she laughed.

He chuckled "Yea we need new jobs"

She put her coffee cup up "I'll drink to that" she smiled.

He tapped his cup against hers and kissed her "Mmm... We are gonna have to stop that" he smiled "We gotta pretend to be an unhappy couple"

"No more kissing" she nodded.

"Or hugging" he said.

"Or touching" she sighed.

He stopped and looked over "No…" he thought "We can touch a little right?"

"Maybe like this" she stuck her pinky finger out and lightly tapped the tip of his.

He smiled and kissed her "Ok" he put his pinky up and tapped it to hers lightly "You are so cute" he smiled. "So" he took a breath "Why am I divorcing you?" he asked.

She sat back and looked out the window "This is gonna be the hard part"

15 minutes later they pulled up to the firm and Tony sighed "Ready?"

She shot an angry glare at him trying to be in character as she saw a man watching them from inside the building through the big glass windows.

He had to hold his laughter "Ooh yea, you're ready"

His smile was pulling at her lips "Look the other way before you make me laugh too" she said trying to keep her expression cold as they climbed out of the car.

"Hello Mr and Mrs. Torres" They were greeted as they walked in "Just fill out these forms and have a seat" A woman at the counter said. They sat in two old chairs next to the big windows. Tony began filling out his forms, but a minute later he heard Michelle stop writing and he looked up to see her frozen and staring at the papers. He cleared his throat and she snapped back into what she was doing after shooting him an uneasy glance. Once they finished the forms they spotted the target walking toward them "Hello, my name is James Furtolf, follow me" They followed him and sat down in his office "So, I understand this is an urgent matter?" they nodded "May I ask why?"

"I can't get married until this is done and I'd like to book my flight to Vegas knowing that this is taken care of" Tony said coolly. He was very convincing and Michelle instantly decided she did not like this.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled "Ok then"

"All right let's take a look at the separation settlement then we will sign the divorce and in no time you will be free from each other"

"That's refreshing to hear"

"Hold on one second, as major items go, Robert you claimed ALL fitness equipment, but Jen it says you are claiming the treadmill" he said looking up at them.

"Oh come on when do you _ever_ use the treadmill Jen?" Tony said trying to start a fight.

Michelle looked genuinely hurt, it killed him, but he had to keep their cover "I _would_ use it if I ever had time" she retorted cooly.

"Right, but you're always so busy at work… late meetings with that handsome boss of yours whom you speak so highly of right?"

Michelle was taken aback, this seemed all too familiar and she hated where this was going but she couldn't choke she had to play along "Whatever you want to believe Rob, I'm not the one getting married next week"

"She's the best thing that ever happened to me… I can't help how I feel… and for what its worth, I never wanted to hurt you" he said with such sincerity she wanted to cry, which worked in this situation.

"Ok, ok this isn't marriage counseling, we are arguing over a treadmill… I don't have time for this" the man said.

"Can you just give is 5 minutes to discuss this?" Tony said "5 minutes and we'll have everything figured out"

"Fine" he said walking out of the office with a sigh.

Once he was out Tony stood and hurried over to the desk to start going through anything to find evidence that he was criminally connected with his brother "No way" he stopped when he saw the gun "This is it, this is the gun, he must have shot his brother to keep him from talking… this is the rare gun they were talking about… right? They said it's from overseas and only uses that certain ammunition-" he looked up to see she wasn't really paying attention "Hey"

She looked up and nodded "Yea that's it"

_(Later)_

"Wow, we kicked ass today" Tony smiled as they drove home "Went straight to the top and caught the guy with a silly trick, guess he felt a little too safe behind his fake identity" Tony expected a response, but instead Michelle was silent "You alright?" he asked knowing she wasn't.

"Tired" she answered not looking to him.

He knew this wasn't all but decided to leave her alone, he figured she would tell him what it was when she was ready so he drove with the radio in the background.

_She the type of girl to make you lazy.  
Don't wanna do a thing,  
I've been thinkin' crazy lately.  
Like buying her a ring,  
I used to be at the party with ladies gettin' down…  
I used to play with them girls but I'm thinkin' differnet now,  
Oh shes a star, she makes me fly  
Taking me places, I've never seen  
Two worlds apart, but she don't mind  
Cause she's got her wings_

Can't wait to wake up in the morning  
Knowing she'll be around  
Heaven should of sent a warning  
If they was sending me an angel down  
I used to chase all the money, the cars and all them broads  
But I don't care for them things ever since she stole my heart,  
Oh she's a star, she makes me fly  
Taking me places, I've never seen  
Two worlds apart, but she don't mind  
Cause she's got her wings

It's like a fairy tale .. that we all know so well,  
And I'm so lucky that I found her, oh

Used to be a Romeo til' I found my Juliet  
Now I don't roll no more,  
And all my love she gets  
She comes from a different place,  
I come from the other side  
Even though we not the same  
That girl she changed my life, oh my Juliet.  
I finally found ya.. oh my Juliet.  
I finally found ya.. my Juliet.

My Juliet  
I finally found my Juliet  
My Juliet  
I finally found her

The lyrics were sweet and almost comforting, but she couldn't help but think how convincing… too convincing Tony was in the fake divorce and his words had hurt even though she knew it was supposed to be fake.

When they got home Michelle went straight upstairs.

"She ok?" Dan asked.

"What makes you ask?"

"You two are always smiling when you're together… I don't see any smiles"

"We had to go on a mission… I can't go into the details, but I guess something didn't sit right with her"

"You gonna talk to her?" he asked.

"I tried" Tony sighed "But I think she needs time… sometimes she gets upset and she can't exactly figure out why, it makes her feel silly so she doesn't want to talk until she knows what's bothering her"

"Women are complicated sometimes" Dan smiled.

Tony smiled "I get in trouble for those comments"

_(Half an hour later)_

Tony walked into the bedroom. Michelle had changed into her pajamas and was cuddled up in the bed watching TV. "Hey you" he said softly.

She glanced at him with a straight face then back to the TV "Hi"

He eyed her closely, he had a fairly good idea what was going on. She had her knees to her chest and her hands wrapped in front holding the blanket. He stuck out his pinky and touched hers. A smile she couldn't control spread across her face and she tried to erase it.

He could tell that the fake divorce had disturbed her and maybe hit too close to home "Wanna hear the part Robert didn't tell the divorce attorney?"

She looked at him as if he had three heads.

"The divorce was all a trick" he said "Robert had 2 plane tickets to Hawaii, Jen's favorite place, and he had a wedding planned… but not for some other girl… ya see Jen had been hinting for months how nice it would be to re-new their vows"

"I don't think so" she said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"If that were true Rob wouldn't have gone out of his way to say hurtful things to her… if he loved her he would never hurt her like that"

"Maybe he was just trying to make it believable" Tony tried.

"No really, Rob was an ass" Michelle said and another uncontrollable smile spread across her face.

He smiled too "Yea? Now wait, are we talking about Rob or Tony?"

She laughed "_Rob_"

"So what do you think of the man behind Rob?" he asked.

She thought for a second and played with the edge of the blanket "I think that man is an excellent field agent… he is used to completely throwing himself into whatever identity he is given and he does a great job… problem was, in this case, his job was to hurt Jen and the woman behind Jen was not as in-character as she should have been… she let her heart have a say in what was going on"

He took her hand in his "You're right Rob was an ass" he smiled "And he must have been blind not to see what a wonderful, beautiful woman Jen was"

Michelle smiled "She was at least more civil"

"So what does this mean?" Tony asked "No more undercover missions together?"

"Not when we have to be enemies… because even when the words are fake they are a little too much"

"But you know I'd never leave you"

"I know" she sighed as he brushed a tear from her eye and she smiled "I'm overly emotional, I know"

"You've had a lot going on lately"

"Yea and now with everyone moving out I just-"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Well you know my dad moving to his place once its fixed up…"

"Yea"

"And Corey's been talkin about moving in with Gina, but you knew that-"

His eyes widened in anger "Wha-"

"-or maybe you didn't"


	95. Chapter 95 Dare You to Move

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Switchfoot_)

~ Chapter 95 ~

"That's never gonna fit" Michelle laughed as Gina and Corey tried to squish a big box into Gina's car.

Corey wiped the sweat off his forehead "I thought" he panted "If we angled it sideways"

"Just take the Denali, I'm sure all your junk will fit in there" she smiled handing him the keys "Just" she stopped before he took the keys "No lights or sirens… seriously, it's not just a cool way to get through traffic, it's extremely illegal" Gina smiled guiltily as Michelle handed Corey the keys.

He pushed a button to open the back door of the Denali and smiled at Michelle "Ya know" he said "I remembered when I didn't have anything to move…remember? When I met you I had nothing… no job, no car, no furniture or anything… I can't even remember where all of this stuff came from" he chuckled opening the box.

"I remember" Michelle smiled pulling a baseball hat out "This is from when we went to the Cubs game" she put it back and pulled out a soccer ball "This is the ball you and Tony would take down to the park to play soccer every weekend last fall" she put it back and pulled out an inflatable bat "You won this when we took you to the boardwalk" she put the baseball bat back and took out a postcard "And this-"

"Really? Enough is _enough_" They heard a cranky voice as Tony came marching across the lawn in his pajamas "You decided to date my little sister without my permission? Ok I let that go… You wanna move in with her now? Whatever. I guess I'll get over it…but stealing my _wife_ out of my bed on a Sunday morning? Oh _hell_ no this is where I draw the line-"

Michelle rolled her eyes and pulled the inflatable bat back out with a smile "I'm gonna need to borrow this"

_(Later)_

"Bye!" Michelle smiled as she and Tony stood on the porch watching Gina and Corey pull out of the driveway. Michelle noticed Tony wasn't waving, she elbowed him playfully "why aren't you waving?"

"Cuz that's my car!" he pouted.

"He's gonna bring it back" she told him "Plus" she smiled "You should be excited"

He raised his eyebrow, but kept his expression grumpy and suspicious "Why?"

"Because now we have the house all to ourselves" she wiggled her eyebrows pushing him inside with a seductive smile.

He smiled and kissed her as he carried her into the living room and laid her down on the couch crawling right on top of her and pulling down the straps of her tank top. The phone began to ring and they both ignored it and continued. A moment later it began to ring again, with her lips still locked with his she reached for the phone but he took it from her and tossed it over to the other couch causing her to giggle "Tony-"

Just then the doorbell rang and he sighed in frustration "All I want is the world to go away so I can be with you" he said stroking her face.

She looked deep into his eyes and kissed him softly "I know"

She slid out from under him to go get the door while he retrieved the phone "Hello?" he answered.

"Tony something bad has happened…" Chloe said.

Michelle opened the door to two police officers "Michelle Almeida?"

"Yes?" she said slowly.

"We're gonna have to ask you to come with us" they said.

She started "Wh-"

"Michelle-" Tony said coming around the corner with the phone to his ear but stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the police officers "Hold on Chloe" he said walking to the door "What's going on here?"

"We are going to need to ask your wife some questions regarding Josh Allen"

"Why? She had nothing to do with this" Tony said.

"Tony _what_ is going on?" she asked taking his arm.

"It looks like Josh committed suicide"

Michelle felt a lump rising in her throat, her eyes grew wide as she stared at Tony then glanced to the officers who were watching her reaction very closely, one watching and writing. They must have found something connecting her to this…she couldn't imagine… she looked at them and her voice was small "What did you find?"

"A collection of … pictures, letters, and other items for and of you"

Michelle looked away trying to control her emotions. She swallowed and looked back to them with a steady voice "I'll get my jacket"

"-chelle" Tony said softly trying to stop her but she pulled her jacket out of the closet.

"Don't" she said. If he started on her with that voice she wouldn't be able to hold it together.

He nodded and held her jacket up for her to put her arm in "Want me to come?" he asked.

"Will you come get me after?"

"Just call and I'll be there" He wanted to tell her he loved her and hug her but he knew that'd make it harder… his touch, his voice would just melt her and she couldn't do that now. She looked away quickly then followed the police officers out.

_(Later)_

"You have reached your destination" the Denali's GPS chirped as Tony pulled up in front of the building. He slowly got out and headed inside.

"I'm sorry this is an active investigation scene… who are you?" a police officer said stopping Tony.

Tony announced himself and showed his badge as he proceeded past the officers. It was a small apartment with not much decoration. He had a large collection of DVDs and records. Tony walked into the bedroom and stopped in his tracks at the blood on the wall. He cringed; Josh had been such a nice guy. His heart began to pound when he saw what was scattered across the bed… his wife. He walked closer to all the pictures, most were from CTU and in very few were Michelle aware she was being photographed. The ones where she was aware she was being photographed were from CTU parties. But most of them, as he looked closer, seemed to be screenshots taken from security cameras inside CTU. Pictures of her working, some of her smiling, some of her whole body and some of just her face…as he looked at more he found a few that angered him… ones where she was bending down to pick something up and the camera was showing her butt or down her shirt. He tossed them back on the bed in frustration rubbing his face…all these pictures would be admitted into evidence and if he stopped that he could go to jail. This was so unfair to her, he knew she'd feel terrible and blame herself. He noticed Josh's laptop in the corner. Tony pulled it out and began looking through the files. He found the same pictures and more plus some pictures where Josh had even put himself into pictures next to her using Photoshop. He sighed and closed the files and turned to his email for more clues.

_(Later)_

"Tony!" Chloe said hurrying toward him as he sat at Josh's desk looking through his things.

"What do you have?"

"That e-mail you copied me… I found who sent it, what cell they are linked to and where they might be"

"Ok that's great Chloe but what is _most_ important is that you run a scan on his hard drive to see if you can recover the e-mails that were erased or moved… send all the data you already have over to Chase, he has a field team ready" he said and Chloe rushed off. Tony sighed and put the binder in his hand down rubbing his face. It was taking an awfully long time at the station, he hadn't heard from Michelle yet. He decided to text her 'Hey Sweetheart, everything okay?'

"You know" Ryan said walking up behind Tony "I don't need you here, I got this under control"

"Yea, but you wouldn't be this far without me… anyway I came to brief everyone and check out his desk, now I'm done" he said standing up "And I'm outta here, good luck" Tony said walking out. Once he got into his car he frowned at his phone which had no new messages. He decided to call the police station as he drove toward it "Hi this is Tony Almeida, my wife is there answering some questions, I wanted to know how much longer she'll be"

"I'm sorry, she left 2 hours ago"

"She did?"

"Yes"

"Ok thank you" he said slowly wondering why she hadn't called. He was worried, he called the house phone.

"Hello?" Michelle answered in a worn voice.

"Hey baby, I was worried, I thought I was picking you up from the police station?"

"I took a cab, Chloe told me you were doing a briefing" she sighed.

"I would have come… I wanted to" he said softly "How you holding up?"

"Not great"

"I'll be home in a minute"

"Okay"

_(20 minutes later)_

Tony walked into the living room to find Michelle lying on the couch with Garren snuggled up right next to her licking her arm. Tony rolled his eyes and pulled the dog off her "I'll take it from here buddy" he said. He looked down at Michelle who was staring into space. He laid down next to her and wrapped his arms around her "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Valentine's Day" she said quietly.

_Michelle flashed her ID to the guard "Good Morning Ms. Dessler" he smiled. She walked through the bullpen and up to her desk. There she saw a small heart shaped box of chocolates that still had the '$1.99' tag on them. She frowned at them and smiled 'Really?' she thought._

"_Aww that's cute" Kim said walking up behind Michelle. Michelle raised her eyebrow "Well… isn't that what guys are supposed to do? Give you chocolates?"_

"_This is not like him" Michelle said thinking "He's up to something"_

_(Later)_

_The phone rang and she hoped it would be Tony "Dessler"_

"_Ms. Dessler someone is here with flowers for you"_

"_Ok send them up" she said hanging up._

_A delivery boy walked in and handed her the flowers. Josh walked up "Someone got you flowers huh?" he smiled._

_Michelle looked carefully at the flowers "Uh huh… I wonder who it could be" she said sarcastically thinking they had to be from Tony "Hmm no card, this is odd… they are not even my favorite kind… and he knows what my favorite kind are…" she said quietly putting them on her desk and going back to her work as Josh nodded then walked away._

_(Later)_

"_Enough, really? Stop. Just don't talk to her, you two are ridiculous" Michelle said to Adam who was once again complaining about something Chloe was doing._

_Kim saw this and followed Michelle into the break room where she was getting coffee "Having a bad day?" Kim asked._

"_I'm just not in a good mood" she said._

"_Has he even called?"_

_Michelle sighed "No… you know what? The flowers and chocolate are nice, but all I really want is to hear his voice… even the most beautiful flowers and the best chocolate can't replace him and… I don't know this is just weird" just as she said that her cell phone rang. She glanced up at Kim then slowly took out her phone and smiled at the caller's name "Hey you"_

"_Hi Sweetheart" he said "Can I ask a favor?"_

"_I don't know… you really haven't been meeting my expectations today" she joked "What's the favor?" she asked with a smile._

"_I need you to go to the Denali and read me the VIN number" he said._

_Her hopes hit the floor '…really? Some silly … ugh… this man is getting nothing tonight' she thought shaking her head as she headed out to the parking garage. When she stepped out the door she stopped in her tracks and smiled. He was leaning against a limo._

"_You never cease to amaze me" she smiled wrapping her arms around him._

"_The night person is here already, Kim has your purse" he said pointing to Kim behind them holding Michelle's purse "And we" Tony smiled "Have places to be"_

_She smiled and got in and sat down next to him "I knew something was up the second I saw those chocolates"_

_Tony smiled "I was trying to throw you off" he kissed her temple and pointed to the front of the car "This is Mr. Johnson… he has insisted I call him Roger, but I like calling him Mr. Johnson… so Mr. Johnson is taking us on a tour"_

"_Of what?"_

"_The things that make me love you" he smiled._

_They pulled up to the park and she smiled over at him "Our first hot dogs together?"_

"_Yes" he smiled "But that's not all we did here"_

_She looked out into the park and smiled as she realized "Our first swim?"_

"_The sun was going down and the park was empty, I said we could probably do anything we wanted and no one would see… I was joking…and what did you say?"_

_She smiled "I _dare_ you"_

_He nodded "yea and… you were serious, I said no way that I didn't wanna get into trouble with the police and you told me life is not about 'not getting in trouble' it's about so much more…then you pushed me in" he smiled "As we laid in the water in that fountain I decided you were right… No matter how much trouble we got in, that moment with you was worth it"_

_She took his hand "Every moment is worth it" she smiled as they drove on to their next stop…_

"Valentine's Day? What reminded you of that?" Tony asked softly.

"Those flowers… the ones you swore you didn't get me… they were from him" she said in a daze "He was standing right there when I got them… all I said is that they weren't my favorite and you knew that ….and I was wondering what you were planning… I had no idea they were from him"

"That was weeks ago honey, I'm sure that wasn't why he-"

"It really doesn't matter" she stopped him as her emotions rose "It was wrong" she said beginning to cry "I can't even justify taking a life when it's a terrorist… I sleep well every night knowing that I try my best every day to save lives… how do I sleep tonight? This guy was clearly alone and sad and I ignored him… I should've thanked him, I should've invited him to more parties… I should-"

"No" Tony said putting his finger to her lips "Don't do this to yourself"

"Why not? I clearly gave him nothing to live for"

"It's not your responsibility to give him something to live for, you were just his co-worker… I read the letters he wrote to you… he talked about how he would make sure you would never know how he felt, but that in the future he hoped to find someone as perfect as you"

She looked away as more tears welled up in her eyes "I feel terrible"

"Think about it… he was writing about his beautiful future… does that sound like someone who is suicidal?"

The phone rang and he shot her an apologetic look and picked it up "Almeida"

"Tony I found those e-mails, you were right, Josh was being blackmailed by the same terrorist cell, looks like they were offering him a lot of money to do something, but they were vague, but it looked like they wanted to make him a mole"

"Chappelle's following it up?"

"Yea, just figured I'd call and let you know" she said.

"Thanks Chloe" he said closing the phone. Tony smiled softly and wiped a tear from Michelle's cheek "Josh was being blackmailed by terrorists… it had nothing to do with you"

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder "I would say thank goodness, but that's terrible…"

"It is" he agreed "Our co-worker died, it's really sad" he said standing up "But I miss your smile _too much_ to sit here and talk about it anymore" he smiled "Come on, let's go do something fun"

She looked up at him tiredly and shook her head "Nah I-"

"I _dare_ you"

_Welcome to the planet  
Welcome to existence  
Everyone's here  
Everyone's here  
Everybody's watching you now  
Everybody waits for you now  
What happens next  
What happens next_

Welcome to the fallout  
Welcome to resistance  
The tension is here  
Tension is here  
Between who you are and who you could be  
Between how it is and how it should be

Maybe redemption has stories to tell  
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell  
Where can you run to escape from yourself?  
Where you gonna go?  
Where you gonna go?  
Salvation is here

I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor  
I dare you to move  
I dare you to move  
Like today never happened  
Today never happened

She shook her head at him in disbelief "Someone _died_ today" she said with a shaky voice.

"Someone dies _every_ day" he said softly "Josh, George, my dad, your mom… it's terrible… unimaginable, but those people wouldn't want us to sit here crying, they'd want us to live life…do you remember the last place went on Valentine's day?"

A small smile crept onto her lips "Of course I do"

"_Oh I definitely remember what happened here" Michelle giggled as they pulled up to a small beach._

"_You tell the story this time then" he smiled._

"_We had gone out on a bike ride and wound up here… we had been riding so fast we were sweating… you wanted to go swimming… I didn't wanna get my clothes all wet…" she smiled. She thought for a second "You know what that night reminds me of?"_

"_What?"_

"_My grandmother told me once, a week or so before she died… she said 'Chelly you live the most outta each day, every day, cuz at the end that's all that matters… you will find that the days when you did what you wanted and had fun without looking back will be the best days' …and that day… and every day I'm with you… it makes me happy to know I'm taking her advice"_

Michelle stood up and wrapped her arms around him. After a minute she looked up and kissed him softly "You know, even days like this… where people are moving out, getting blackmailed and dying…even on our crappiest days, having you here with me makes these the best days of my life"


	96. Chapter 96 Halo

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Haley James Scott/Bethany Joy Lenz Galeotti_)

~ Chapter 96 ~

"Shut up… who's house is this?" the girl smiling on his front step said with her mouth hanging open.

Tony's jaw dropped with a smile "That depends, who is this creeper on my front step?"

"Oh I missed you!" she laughed hugging him.

"Yea yea yea… is that why you haven't called in oh… 4 years?" he laughed allowing her in.

She laughed "I know, I know, I suck… I got your messages… it's just" she got cut off by Garren running up and jumping up at her "Ah!" she laughed "And who is this?"

"This is Garren" Tony said pulling back on Garren's collar "And he was just leaving"

"So Tony Almeida" she sighed looking up at him.

"So Mackenzie Holden" he smiled crossing his arms across his chest.

"Ugh" she sighed "I didn't call you Anthony did I? But, somehow, you have the nerve to call me M-" she glared at him.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry"

"I thought we were friends"

"That was until you disappeared 4 years ago" he said slightly more seriously.

She sighed and her smile dropped "Yea"

"What happened Mack?" he said slowly.

She rolled her eyes "It's embarrassing"

"I know some pretty embarrassing things about you" he said.

"Well this is tragic _and_ embarrassing"

"I think I can take it"

"Well… we hadn't seen each other in months since you and Frank got into that fight"

"… in which I kicked his ass"

She smiled "yea… I couldn't even hang out with you anymore cuz he hated you so much"

"And I hated him" Tony said.

"Well… the day after our last phone call he proposed" she said.

He shook his head "I knew it"

"We got married and I didn't know how to tell you so… I just never called, I knew you'd be furious and hate me so I wanted to skip it and just never go there…you were my best friend and I couldn't stand the thought of you hating me"

Tony sat down on the couch next to her and laid his hand over hers "Hey its _him_ I hated, not you… you I could put up with…most of the time" he smiled and she smiled back. The front door swung open.

"Sweetheart" Michelle called as she stepped into the room, decked out in her sharp-looking work clothes. She stopped at the sight "Hello woman-whom-I've-never-met-sitting-on-my-couch, it's nice to meet you" she smiled "I like your earrings… Tony could you come here a sec I have a question" she said pointing to the folder in her hand.

"Ok, I'll be right back" he said heading into the kitchen with her.

"I just came from downtown, I was on my way back to CTU, but I had a question" she said opening the folder "This man" she said pointing to the picture.

He looked down "Yea we had him last week but couldn't hold him cuz we didn't have anything"

"We do now… Ryan is questioning him-"

"Wait why aren't you?" he stopped her "You are way better with interrogation"

"I refused"

"Wh-"

She nodded "That's why I came, because something's wrong Tony, I met this guy last week when we had him… he seems different today…"

"How?"

"I don't know… he looks identical but… its" she searched her brain "his inflection, his posture, his vocabulary… he's just different"

"Does he have a sword tattoo on his back?"

"I don't know why?" she asked.

"That's the only thing that sets him apart from his twin brother"

"He has a _twin_!"she said "That wasn't in his file"

"Yes he does… it slipped when I was talking with him, I didn't think much of it til now"

"That tells us something about his file… it must have been altered… he's got someone on the inside somewhere" she looked up and pulled his face to hers kissing him hard "Thank you so much" she said turning to leave.

"Wait Michelle" he said and she stopped and turned around.

"Aren't you gonna ask about the girl?" he asked, astonished that she hadn't already asked.

"I don't need to" she smiled.

Tony walked back into the living room as Michelle walked out the front door. Mackenzie stood up and smiled with her arms across her chest "Well well, was that a _Mrs._ Almeida?"

"What tipped you off?" he asked.

She wobbled her head "The wedding pictures all over the place might've been a clue"

He smiled "Sorry you couldn't really meet her, she was in the middle of something really important for work"

"Not gonna lie, when I saw her I thought I was about to have my ass handed to me" she laughed "but she was really…cool… about it"

He shrugged his shoulders and sat down "Yea she's pretty cool, huh?"

"And _gorgeous_" she smiled elbowing him "Good job!"

He smiled "Yea, I don't know how I got so lucky" he smiled wishing Michelle could've stayed and gotten to know his old friend. He looked over at Mackenzie "What about you and Frank?"

He eyes dropped to the floor "As I said… tragic and embarrassing"

His smile faded "I'm sorry… do 'I told you so's have expiration dates?" he tried with a smile.

She smiled slightly and shook her head more seriously "Look I know it was stupid, but I just figured if we were married it would be easier to work out our problems because he'd be committed and I hoped that would motivate him to work through things"

"Is that what brings you here?"

"Two things brought me here… I realized I made a mistake and I needed to come admit that to you… and also… regretfully, I came asking for help… it got bad and I signed the papers and ran… he got everything because I just wanted out…and I know I can make it on my own, I already have job, but… I need a start" she said meekly. "You have to know how much I hate asking-"

"Yes" he said and she stopped in surprise "Of course"

"I just want you to know that you don't have to, and I promise I will pay you back-"

"Ok, ok … you get that I said yes right?" he chuckled "I mean come on, we've been friends since fifth grade, it's no problem"

"You don't wanna talk to your wife first?"

"I know she would want to help"

"Even if she saw us sitting together holding hand on your couch?" she said slightly disbelieving.

"Trust me she would want to help you even if you had a gun to her head… she's done it before and by the way she's not mad about that, she trusts me"

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows "She sounds like an amazing woman" she smiled "and by the way, I know she wasn't mad"

"How?"

"You've got a little lipstick" she pointed to his lips.

He chuckled and cocked his jaw to the side wiping it off "She usually tells me when-" he stopped and smiled.

She looked up at the wall full of pictures with Tony and Michelle smiling in different places with different people "Well at least one of us got our dream life" she smiled.

"You'll get yours, trust me I know there were so many times I was sure my happiness was over for good, especially right before I met Michelle…. I had the most epically terrible relationship ever… she cheated on me, used me, publically humiliated me… it was such a mess"

"You were a mess? Judging from the beautiful house and wife, I would've guessed you've been living 'happily ever after'"

"Well since Michelle, I have"

_(Later)_

"You sure it's ok I stay for dinner?" she asked sitting at the counter as Tony began pulling things out for dinner.

"Positive" he said "Michelle should be home any minute now, I really want you to meet her"

"You're making me nervous" she laughed.

They heard the garage door open and a minute later Michelle walked in with a bunch of bags in her hand, some of them groceries, some laptop cases.

"Did I ever mention how much I _loooooooove_ you Michelle Almeida?" They heard a laughing Gina say as she came in behind Michelle.

Michelle stopped and a smile spread across her face "Ok my answer's yes... but you still-" Gina dropped her bags and threw her arms around Michelle.

"Yes! _Yes!_ YES!" she said bouncing up and down as she hugged Michelle.

The bags were sliding slowly out of Michelle's arms so Tony rushed over to relieve her of them "you still need to double check with your brother" Michelle said.

Gina spun around "Tony can I-" she stopped dead in her tracks and blinked a few times "No _way_ is that Mack Holden sitting in your kitchen"

"No way did that _scrawny_ little girl Gina grow up into this _woman_" Mackenzie said standing up to hug Gina.

"I thought you fell off the face of the earth? What happened?" Gina laughed.

"Just off busy screwing up my life" Mack smiled "But you look like you're doing good"

"I am!" Gina smiled "Especially cuz I was just given a week-long vacation to the most romantic island of the Bahamas!" she turned to Tony "Riiiiiiight Tony?"

Tony sighed and glanced at Michelle "Well now _we_ can't go because of this stupid trip for work… and I can't cancel so I guess"

She smiled and spun around clapping "Yes!" she smiled "I'm gonna go call Corey!"

"Michelle, this is Mack, we've been friends since fifth grade" he said "And Mack this is my wife Michelle"

"It's so nice to meet you" Mack said.

"Yea sorry I couldn't stay earlier, I was in the middle of a crisis at work" Michelle smiled.

"How'd that go by the way?" Tony asked, knowing she'd have to stay vague with her answer.

Sadness washed over her face and she indicated to the tub of ice cream she had brought from the store.

"He didn't answer but he's gonna be sooo excited! You guys are the BEST!" Gina danced in.

"Hey would you guys excuse us?" Tony said taking Michelle's hand as they left the kitchen.

They entered the living room and Michelle melted into Tony's arms. He held her and kissed her head "Tough day huh?"

She let out a deep breath and nodded into his chest, she hung from his shoulders and looked up at him "Tony, I love this job… I really do… but… sometimes I'm afraid of the person it makes me"

"What do you mean?" he said sitting down with her in his lap.

"The things I'm forced to do… today I had to torture 2 people for information, one of whom was arguable innocent"

"If he was innocent I'm sure you wouldn't have needed to torture him"

"He wasn't completely innocent… he was aiding terrorists, but not for bad reasons… I don't know… that's someone's child… someone's husband… I hate having to do it" she said sadly as he twirled one of her curls around his finger.

"You are the best person I know, you are kind, caring, conscientious, and responsible… you take my breath away… the fact that you are broken up about this is proof of just how perfect you are"

_I never promised you a ray of light  
I never promised there'd be sunshine every day  
I give you everything I have  
The good  
The bad_

Why do you put me on a pedestal?  
I'm so up high that I can't see the ground below  
So help me down  
You've got it wrong  
I don't belong there

_I always said that I would make mistakes  
I'm only human and that's my saving grace  
I fall as hard as I try so don't be blinded_

_See me as I really am  
I have flaws and sometimes I even sin  
So pull me from that pedestal  
I don't belong there_

One thing is clear  
I wear a halo  
I wear a halo when you look at me  
But standing from here  
You wouldn't say so  
You wouldn't say so if you were me  
And I, I just wanna love you  
Oh, Oh, I, I just wanna love you

"You always see the best in me" she said "But I'm not sure I deserve it"

"You do" he said "Someone's gotta remind you how wonderful you are" he smiled kissing her cheek "You hold yourself to such a high standard that sometimes it amazes me how much you can forgive others, sometimes you have to forgive yourself too, I know you are unsure, but I know that you wouldn't do anything as extreme as torturing someone without having a damn good reason, ok?"

She nodded and kissed him softly "Thank you" 

_(An hour later)_

"So thank you for loaning me the money Michelle" Mack smiled.

"I loaned you money?" Michelle laughed.

"Yes you did" Mack nodded.

"Really?" Michelle giggled "Was I generous?"

"Oh yes"

"Well then you're welcome" Michelle laughed.

"So you are _so_ much cooler than I expected" Mack laughed passing a bowl to Gina.

"Uh... thanks?" Michelle giggled.

"No" she laughed "I just meant… well… I just never liked any of Tony's ex-girlfriends"

Michelle raised her eyebrows and smiled "Join the club"

"Yea well for what its worth all _your_ exes sucked too," Tony said to Mack with a smile.

"Don't worry, me too" Michelle said to Mack.

Gina laughed "Hey me too!"

"How about a toast to the end of bad relationships?" Tony said raising his glass.

"Oh I will drink to that!" Mack smiled raising her glass.

"To good relationships" Gina said.

Michelle raised her glass "To seeing the best in people and a love that will never end"

They all smiled "Cheers"


	97. Chapter 97 I Love You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

~ Chapter 97 ~

"I cannot believe you" Michelle said as she stood in the middle of their bedroom with her arms crossed and a smile pulling at her lips "You're joking right?"

"If you want them back you must do everything I say" Tony smiled.

"My flight takes off in less than an hour Tony, this is not a good time for you to be holding my luggage hostage"

"Just do what I say and you can have them back"

"You've been working with terrorists too long" she shook her head looking around the room for them. They weren't in the closet or the bathroom… or the guest room, she walked back in "Ok fine… what are your demands?" she said leaning against the bed "…this should be good"

"First tell me how much you are gonna miss me"

She rolled her eyes "I'm gonna miss you so much that I won't be able to sleep… and I'll probably be thinking about you the whole time I'm away"

He smiled, proud of his work "And how careful are you gonna be?"

"I will be _very_ careful and in four days I will be back in one piece, fully functional"

His smile grew "And how much do you love me?"

"That I don't have words for" she took his hand.

"Ok, 2 out of 3's not bad" he chuckled as she punched him in the arm

"Now where's my stuff?"

He smiled "In the car"

Her face dropped and then she laughed "You!" she hit him again and he threw her over his shoulders.

"Take it easy, you are gonna be late" he said carrying her down the stairs to the car.

_(A few days later)_

Michelle walked down the hall toward the conference room, she was still nervous on her 3rd day so she decided to call Tony before she went in. She stood outside the door with her back against the wall and pulled out her phone. She began to hold down '2' to speed dial him but then she stopped because she thought she heard his name

"…Almeida"

"Ooo is he gonna be here?"

"If he is we are in for some fun" another voice giggled.

"That man is some _nice_ eye candy"

"Oh he sure is"

"Isn't he married?"

"Honey, this day and age it doesn't _matter_"

Michelle shook her head, she wasn't even going to do it. It was her first time meeting with this committee and she didn't want any problems "Hello everyone" she said glancing over at the 3 girls who she had heard from the hall "My name is Michelle Dessler, I'm the representative for L.A." the people around the table nodded and smiled telling her their names "I will be preparing you all for the new internet security protocols" she said looking over to the girls "I've heard you have a lot to learn" Everyone nodded and pulled out their papers as a man at the front of the table spoke up.

"Yes Ms. Dessler built the new architecture herself so we could definitely benefit from her" he said turning to her "Thank you for joining us"

_(Later)_

"They said I was hot huh?" he joked.

"Don't let it go to your head" she rolled her eyes.

"So did you tell them that _you_ are the lucky woman I adore with all my heart?"

"No I did not, I wasn't about to walk in there and create any drama, I just wanna teach them and come home"

"I know baby, I miss you" he smiled "But don't worry, you'll be seeing me in no time" he said as he heard her yawn.

"Will you talk to me while I try to fall asleep?" she asked laying down and turning off her light.

"Ok" he said softly as he talked to her until she fell asleep.

Michelle opened her eyes 20 minutes later and groaned, she could never sleep without him…

And so it begun 10:42 she closed her eyes, when she woke up again it was 10:59 and so she closed her eyes, when she woke up again it was 11:07 and again she opened her eyes at 11:24.

The next time she opened her eyes it was 7:54AM she opened her eyes and couldn't believe she had actually slept until she noticed arms that were placed around her, she turned and Tony was snuggled up behind her "Tony?" she said in a groggy voice completely confused.

"Shhh I'm sleeping" he said with his eyes closed.

Then it hit her that he was actually there and a smile broke out across her face and she kissed him "Baby what are you doing here?" she laughed.

"Helping my wife sleep" he murmured.

"I can't believe you're here!" she said excitedly kissing him again.

He smiled and opened his eyes "I guess you haven't looked at the tickets I bought you for the trip home"

"What do you mean… my flight tickets?" she asked.

He smiled and she looked at him completely confused. She jumped off the bed and ran over to the desk where the envelope with her ticket was. She pulled it out, it wasn't an airplane ticket "A _cruise_?" she smiled in disbelief and ran over and jumped on top of him "I can't believe I didn't notice!" they laughed and she kissed him again "You are so amazing"

"Well since our first vacation got cancelled and wound up going to Gina" he rolled his eyes "I decided to figure something else out"

"This is so perfect!" she squealed kissing him again as she slid his pants off "Guess what… I'm in a _very_ good mood, well-rested, still have an hour til my meeting and am married to the most wonderful man in the world…"

"I like where this is going"

_(Later)_

Michelle buttoned the last button on her shirt "Hopefully the meeting won't run too long so we can leave, I'm so excited" she smiled into the mirror at him.

"Me too honey" he said pulling something out of his jacket and slipping it into his bag.

"What was that?" she asked curiously.

He smiled "My digital recorder"

"And what exactly is recorded on there?" she said narrowing her eyes.

"You"

"Saying what?"

"Remember that day in the car you were singing 'I Love You' and I told you I was gonna record you singing it so I could listen to it when you're away and I miss your voice?"

"I thought you were joking because I can't sing" she said turning around.

"I was serious, I love it when you sing" he said pulling her toward him "I've been listening to it the past couple days and it makes me smile"

She smiled "Ok… as long as you never let anyone else listen to it" she rolled her eyes.

_(A few hours later)_

As Michelle headed out of her last conference she spotted three of the women from her seminar standing together stealing looks at Tony from across the lobby and talking quietly. Michelle shook her head and walked over to Tony who wrapped his arms around her "Ready to go?" he smiled.

She smiled and nodded "Definitely" she said walking off with him leaving the girls with their jaws hanging realizing that they had just spent three days gossiping about how cute Tony Almeida was… right in front of his wife… and they hadn't even known it.

12 hours later they were on the cruise ship staring off at the beautiful sunset "What a gorgeous sunset" Tony said.

She smiled "This is wonderful Tony I am so happy to be here with you"

"For now" he smiled mischievously.

"Oh what did you do"

"Nothing really… I was just wandering around while you were unpacking and I kinda… signed you up for karaoke night" he laughed.

_(Half an hour later)_

"You have completely lost it" she said standing in the club waiting for her turn.

"It'll be fun!" he insisted.

"I can't sing" she whined

"Yes you can, I don't know why you think you can't"

"Alright that was Franny Jane and now up next are Michelle and Tony"

She spun around "You are coming with me?"

"Sweetheart…" he smiled taking her hand "I wasn't gonna make you do it all alone" he laughed as they walked up and Michelle reluctantly sang and as she did she couldn't stop smiling.

_I don't know what it is,_

_but I love you, I love you, I love you  
I don't know what you do_

_but I love you, oh baby_

Baby, I don't know what it is

_but you drive me crazy  
Every time I'm around you girl it feels amazing.  
And I'm on my best behavior when I'm with my baby_

_cuz I can't lose my baby oh_

_Lately when you're gone all I do is think about my baby  
I'm so gone off your loving I don't know why  
Maybe its the way you love me, hold me, kiss me cuz baby_

I done met a lot of girls in my life but they not like you noooo!  
I done been with the best and baby you the best of the best you the greatest oooh!

I don't know what it is, but I love you, I love you, I love you  
I don't know what you do but I love you, I love you, I love you  
I don't know what it is, but I love you, I love you, I love you  
I don't know what you do but I love you ooooh baby  


At the end of the song he kissed her softly and whispered "That was beautiful"

They walked off the stage and headed out to the deck. Michelle had a huge smile on her face "That was so much fun!" she laughed kissing him "Thank you so much for signing us up" she said "But if you ever do it again I'll kill ya" she laughed.

"Ok deal" he said wrapping his arms around her as they looked out at the ocean.

"The ocean always reminds me of how small I am" Michelle said.

"I love the sound of it" he said as they listened. They stood there in a few minute in silence listening to the waves "You ever think about the future?"

She smiled softly "Course I do" as they walked along the ship.

"And how do you see yourself… in the future?" he asked holding her hand.

"I see myself happy… growing old… retiring… with you…in our house… with lots of kids, I see myself as a good mother… or at least the best I can be…" she paused and small smile tugged at the corner of her lips "and I can still beat you at Monopoly…"

"Whoah whoah you can't beat me at…" he stopped walking and she turned around as they stood next to the pool "you know what, whatever… so lots of kids?"

"At least 3" she smiled.

"Sounds perfect… except for the Monopoly thing"

She looked sideways at him and pushed him into the pool laughing. He came back up "Ok ok… you know what I'm gonna be a good sport for this one… I'll let this be payback for the karaoke thing"

"Oh so you're gonna let me off easy? I'm so lucky" she rolled her eyes.

"Yes you are" he said as he waded quietly in thought. He moved his arms back and forth slowly as he moved toward the edge of the pool. He put his arms up on the side of the pool and stared into the night "Do you know how_ I_ see you in the future?" he said softly.

She bent down next to him and looked into his eyes.

He grabbed her arms and smiled "_Very_ wet"

As they stepped into their room Tony turned on the light "Let's get you warmed up" he said as her teeth chattered. He returned seconds later with a fluffy white towel "Here we go" he said peeling off her drenched sweater so she was down to just a tank top "You wanna get those pants off?" he asked wrapping the towel around her.

"I know _you_ do" she smiled.

He smiled "Of course I do, but I was just wondering if you wanted to change into your pajamas… I figured I had the couch tonight" he chuckled.

"Like I'd ever let you sleep anywhere but with me"

He kissed her "Maybe I have a new idea of how to warm you up" he said kissing her and pulling her toward the shower.

_(Twenty minutes later)_

"You know what I love most about this vacation?" she smiled over at him.

"Breakfast in bed is free?" he smiled.

"No…" she laughed "I love that it feels like we are on another planet… no CTU, no responsibilities, no ringing cell phones or emergencies… just you and me and this strong beautiful love that's grown between us, ya know? Just getting to lay here and enjoy each other"

"I never wanna go back" he smiled touching his nose to hers.

"But we have to… tomorrow" she said groaned.

"It's ok though" he said softly "Cuz we can bring this" he held her hand and kissed it "back with us"

"I love you" she said "Do I tell you that enough?"

"You don't even have to tell me… I can see it in your eyes when you smile, hear it in your voice when you sing and I can feel it when you hold my hand" he kissed her "But I love to hear you say it and you could never tell me too much"

"I love you"


	98. Chapter 98 Next to You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

_Clearly I'm on a Chris Brown kick huh? lol This song just felt so perfect for this chapter, hope you agree:)_

_I was so happy with all the reviews from the last chapter that I hurried and finished up this chapter to get it out to you as a thank you for all the wonderful reviews:) thank you and please keep them coming and I will do my best to return the favor! :D_

~ Chapter 98 ~

"Don't make me come in there!" Tony awoke to the screeching of his little sister down the hall banging on some door "Corey!"

Tony rolled his eyes as he heard Mack yell up the stairs "Anyone want coffee?"

Did none of these people know they were _trying_ to sleep?

SLAM

Michelle shook slightly in his arms at the loud sound and her eyes began to open.

"No thanks!" Gina yelled back to Mackenzie.

"Good morning baby" he kissed her softly.

"Do Tony and Michelle want some!" Mack yelled to Gina.

"I don't know I think they're still sleeping!" she called back.

Tony shook his head "We need to get these people out of our house"

Michelle smiled "Why are they here again?" Corey and Gina were doing some remodeling at their house so they were just there for a few nights and Mack was just there until the divorce was final.

"Because" Tony smiled "we have too many empty rooms" he smiled "And our lovely friends feel the need to fill those empty rooms"

"Maybe we should fill those empty rooms" Michelle smiled.

Tony smiled and climbed on top of her "I like the way you think, let's start _right_ now" He said taking off her shirt and kissing her chest. He pulled her pajama pants off and she slid his boxers off.

Gina burst in a minute later "Can I use your shower? Corey's taking forever" she said.

"Gina!" Mack said in surprise standing behind her.

"What?" Gina said.

"You're interrupting them while they are having se-"

"They're _always_ having se-"

"Ahh" Corey said happily walking out of the bathroom with a smile.

"You!" Gina said chasing him.

Mack shrugged her shoulders and looking back at Tony and Michelle "You guys want coffee?"

Tony was trying to keep his composure but he was about to lose it with everyone standing there watching and Michelle could feel it inside her, hear it as he panted and see it in his eyes, he buried his head in her chest. "Could you close the door please?" she said quickly and Mackenzie nodded and quickly closed the door.

"You ok sweetheart?" Michelle asked.

He was quiet for a second as pleasure cascaded through him and then he spoke softly "Ahh, I hope that one did it because 9 months just can't come fast enough…"

"You know" she smiled "Even if you did just get me pregnant we would only be filling one room… and a baby is just gonna mean _less_ sleep" She giggled and her fingers through his hair "And all those people will come running back here to see the baby... so if getting rid of those people is what you are trying to accomplish…"

"Maybe I just want you pregnant with my baby" he smiled kissing her stomach.

"I won't argue with that" she laughed kissing him.

_(Half an hour later)_

Tony sauntered into the kitchen "Thanks for using all the hot water Corey" he grumbled as he walked over to the coffee pot and stopped when he saw it was empty "Where's my coffee?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, the house is just about done… we will be outta here by tomorrow and you can have all your precious hot water" Gina laughed sipping her coffee.

His jaw dropped in anger as he watched Gina, Corey and Mack drinking his coffee.

"Come on baby, they need me at Division by 9" Michelle said as she came down the stairs and breezed across the kitchen slinging her purse over her shoulder.

"Michelle" he said unmoving with his empty Cub's mug in his hand "First our guestroom, then our hot water… now our coffee… what's next?"

"Hey Michelle thanks for letting me borrow the car again" Gina smiled.

Tony's jaw dropped and he snatched Gina's coffee away. Michelle rolled her eyes and took the coffee from him handing it back to Gina "Baby you don't even like creamer in your coffee, come on I'm sure RJ already has our coffee ready at the coffee shop" she said nudging him toward the door "Sorry he's really cranky without his coffee" she said as they headed out through the garage and everyone waved.

_(Later)_

Tony sighed as he poured himself another cup of coffee in the CTU break room. This was his third. Just as he began to sip it with a small smile, Jack walked in "Hey Tony, how's it goin?"

"I've had better mornings" he grumbled.

Jack let out a laugh "One more cup and you'll be fine"

"You sound like Michelle" Tony said taking another sip "Do you know they have her doing something for field ops at Division? It's weird, I have no idea why they called _her_ to do it"

"Actually that's what I need to talk to you about" Jack said.

Tony frowned "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you… but finish the coffee first… please, for everyone's sake"

Tony walked into Jack's office "Ok what's going on?"

Jack and Gael looked at each other then Jack pointed to the empty spot on the couch "We have a lot to talk about"

"First I wanna know what this has to do with Michelle, why is she at Division?" Tony asked with his arms folded across his chest.

"I sent her there just for the day to do some minor things… that's not important… I just needed to separate the two of you"

Tony narrowed his stare "Why?"

"We need your help… please sit" he said and Tony slowly sat down.

"Two months ago I returned from an undercover mission in Mexico involving Ramon Salazar"

"Yea some drug lord with possible terrorist connections" Tony said.

"Yes well as I was researching the possible connections I stumbled across something much bigger and this is the point at which we have to come to an agreement" he said staring Tony right in the eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"What I am about to tell you about is extremely dangerous and Gael and I need your help, but before we go any further I need to make sure you understand" he said "The information I'm about to share with you can go no further than these four walls… exclusively you, Gael and myself… NO one else… not chloe, not division-"

"Not Michelle" Tony finished. "Why not? Whatever it is, she can help I'm sure, she would never tell anyone"

"No Tony, she cannot know… first of all when this goes down we need to act completely surprised and in order to have it fly we need people around us to really have no clue so that there's no suspicion from Division… but most importantly Tony… it's for her own safety… the more she knows, the less protected she is… if she didn't know, she won't get blamed"

"I don't like the sound of this" Tony said standing up.

"You are really not gonna like the sound of what will happen if you don't sit back down" Tony stood half way between the couch and door facing away from them. Jack spoke sternly "Biological warfare, widespread deadly disease at our front door that _will_ kill everyone, our friends, families, ourselves… our _wives_"

Tony spun around "What the _hell_ is going on Jack?"

"I will tell you if you agree" Jack said.

"Agree to what exactly" Tony said in an annoyed tone.

"Agree to protect your wife by keeping this in the strictest confidence"

"You mean lie to her… call it what it is"

"Call it whatever you want Tony, but this is _all_ of our lives on the line here… so unless you want to deal with this when all hell breaks loose you better get onboard"

"So this is what? A sting operation?" Tony said walking back toward the couch. Jack nodded and Tony thought for a second "So wait if this goes south… the three of us are going down? Like fired… even jail time?"

"Or worse" Jack admitted "That's why you don't want Michelle anywhere near this"

Tony nodded and scratched the side of his face "Alright fine" he said sitting down

"Now tell me what we are up against"

_(Later)_

Michelle stood by the door at Division as Tony pulled up. He looked bothered. She climbed up into the Denali "Hey Sweetheart" she smiled kissing him. He kissed her deeply and held on a few seconds longer than normal. These were very small details but she noticed "Everything ok?"

Tony's heart dropped, she knew him way too well, this was going to be harder than he thought, she saw right through him… his training and personal experience had taught him that the best lies were those that were closest to the truth with the most important detail altered slightly, this tactic would work, but in the end it was still lying, which is something he couldn't imagine doing to her.

"Tony?"

But he had to protect her, that was his job, even if it killed him "Jack briefed me today on that guy he picked up in Mexico, he thinks there is more… I don't know, we spent a lot of the day arguing over what's important in this case… he wants to peruse it"

She stroked the side of his face "Honey, that's just the way Jack is" she smiled "And _you_ are stubborn… that's why you guys don't along"

He nodded "Yea" he kissed her and turned back to the wheel "So how was your day?"

"Boring, I really think that was pointless" she said.

"That's just the way Division is" he joked and she smiled rubbing the back of his head as they drove and with that smile his heart melted.

_You've got that smile,  
That only heaven can make.  
I pray to God every day,  
That you keep that smile._

You are my dream,  
There's not a thing I won't do.  
I'll give my life up for you,  
Cos you are my dream.

If you had my child,  
You'd make my life complete.  
Just to have your eyes on little me,  
That'd be mine forever.

And baby, everything that I have is yours  
You will never go cold or hungry  
I'll be there when you're insecure  
Let you know that you're always lovely  
Girl, cos you are the only thing that I got right now

One day when the sky is falling,  
I'll be standing right next to you,  
Right next to you.  
Nothing will ever come between us,  
I'll be standing right next to you,  
Right next to you.

"Pizza's here!" Gina cheered as the doorbell rang.

"Finally I'm starving!" Mack laughed.

Michelle smiled and looked over at Tony who had been staring at her quietly "Come here" she said pulling him up and out of the room "We'll be right back, save us some pizza"

Once they were in another room Michelle turned to him "What's wrong? You are very quiet and seem torn up, what is going on?"

"I'm just having a bad day, I was looking at you because your smile makes me feel better"

She smiled "Well I miss _your_ smile" she said running her finger across his lips "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Actually I think I'm already feeling better" he smiled kissing her. He decided right then and there that he had to leave work at work and never bring it home again, so from that point until the next time he saw Jack… he would pretend there was no operation, no virus, no Salazars, no secret… he would push it completely out of his mind so he could focus on what he was protecting, the thing he loved the most… Michelle.

"You sure?" she asked with a soft smile stroking his head.

"Yup and I'm also sure that if we don't hurry they are gonna eat all my pizza" he said pretending to be annoyed.

She laughed "Well then we better get in there"

_(Later)_

Tony was laying bed watching TV when Michelle came into the bedroom in her pajamas. He looked over at her and smiled as she crawled into his arms. He turned the TV off and wrapped his arms around her as she turned off the light.

"Tony?" he heard her voice in the darkness against his chest.

"Yea baby?" he answered softly.

"Are we like officially trying to get pregnant? Because I wasn't sure if you were just kidding cuz I know with ours jobs and everything that's going on…I didn't know if it's a bad time right now and you just…like if you were serious or you just-"

Tony could tell she really wanted to have a baby, but she didn't want to rush him. He smiled "Michelle" he said stopping her. She looked up at him, she could barely see him in the darkness but it didn't matter "It's never a bad time for you to get pregnant, no matter what job we have, where we are or what's going on… There is not a moment in my life where I wouldn't be overjoyed to hear that we are going to have a baby"

He felt her weight shift and her lips press against his "I love you so much" she whispered and he could hear it in her voice that she was close to tears "And I'm really glad you are ok with it because I _really_ wanna have a baby"

"Then let's do it" he said softly "If you are ready, then I'm right here"


	99. Chapter 99 This I Swear

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Nick Lachey_)

~ Chapter 99 ~

Tony shifted as he slept, but suddenly noticed there was no warm weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and looked around and didn't see her until he heard choking in the bathroom. He jumped up and ran into the bathroom where she was slumped over the toilet throwing up. "Oh Sweetheart" he said squatting next to her rubbing her back amd holding her hair out of the way. She was heaving pretty hard "Take it easy honey"

She sat back against him "I don't know what happened" she explained as he wrapped his arms around her and felt her forehead.

"You don't have a fever" he said softly "Your stomach been bothering you?"

"No" she thought "I just woke up nauseas"

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Yea" she answered and looked up at the clock "We should get in the shower"

"You are not going to work today" he said softly and before she could argue he countered "Just take it easy ok? For me"

"Ok" she said.

"But you are, of course, still welcome to shower with me" he smiled.

_(Later)_

"Hey what are you doin here?" Mack said as she came in the back door to the kitchen where Michelle was sipping coffee and watching TV.

Michelle let out a laugh "I live here… what are _you_ doing here? I thought you moved out?"

"I know and it's been two weeks since I got my own place and I already miss the pool so much" she said indicating to the bathing suit she was wearing "Hope you don't mind" she smiled.

"Not at all" Michelle smiled "How is your new house?"

"Really great" she smiled "But empty" she laughed "But I miss you guys… I can't believe that while I was so miserable all this time you guys were somewhere out there and I've been missing out on such great friends… I mean I feel bad that I didn't even get to come to your wedding"

"I'm pretty sure you were invited" Michelle said.

"Yea… I got the invitation but thought it would be awkward so…"

"I'll have to show you the video some time" Michelle said wondering where the videos were. She decided she would look for them.

"So why are you home instead of at work… that's what I meant to ask before"

"Tony said I'm sick and should stay home" she said flipping the channel.

"You don't look sick" Mack smiled.

"What can I say? The man is stubborn…" she smiled "but I'm willing to 'take one for the team' on this one and let him have his way" she smiled sitting back in her chair sipping her coffee.

_(Later)_

"Alright so at this point CTU will fully believe that the virus is in the bag of powder" Jack said reviewing the plan.

Tony nodded his head "You're sure that plausible?"

Jack nodded "Yea-" Tony cell ringing interrupted him.

"It's Michelle" he explained.

"Can you call her back?" Jack said.

"She was sick this morning" Tony said standing up and walking toward the door "I'll be right back" he opened his phone "Hi Sweetheart"

"Hey honey, when you coming home? We have to be at your Mom's by 7" she reminded him.

"I just got a couple more things to finish up here, you sure you're up to it?"

"Tony I told you I've been feeling fine" she said.

"Ok, ok I'll see you soon baby, I love you"

_(Later)_

Michelle sighed as she stood in the middle of the closet "Where could they be?" she said to herself as she looked around the closet for the wedding DVDs. She spotted a white box on the top shelf. She stood on her toes and could just barely touch it with the tips of her fingers. She inched it toward her little by little til it was teetering on the edge

"Want some help with that?"

She jumped and the box slid off the shelf. He grabbed it before it hit her and she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief "You scared the hell outta me"

"Sorry Sweetheart but may I ask what you're are doing with" he opened the box "the nose-hair trimmer my mom bought me last Christmas?"

She looked into the box and saw that he was right "Oh… uh, I thought it was wedding stuff"

He eyed her closely and leaned down so he could look up her nose.

"Stop!" she giggled "I was just looking for our wedding videos!"

"Yea?" he smiled pulling her in toward him "And why is that?"

"I wanted to watch them" she smiled softly "Will you help me look?"

"Of course I will" he whispered then looked down at the box in his hand "Just get this thing away from me"

As she giggled his phone rang and he groaned and flipped it open "Almeida"

"Tony its Jack" he heard and his heart sunk… this probably wasn't going to end well.

"I'm a little busy right now" Tony said trying to let Jack know Michelle was there.

Jack understood "Tony, its important you need to come back to CTU now… you forgot to finish something"

"I can't I have plans, can you handle it?"

"Tony" Jack said seriously.

"Fine" he sighed snapping the phone shut and tossing it to the side. He looked down at Michelle and pulled her face to his kissing her softly "I have to run back to CTU"

Michelle smiled faded "Yea… I could tell" she said "What about dinner?"

"We're just gonna be a little late"

"What about the wedding videos?" she asked.

"How about this" he said pulling her close "Our anniversary is next week… how about we find them this weekend and we can watch them together on our anniversary… that sound good?"

She smiled "Sounds perfect"

_(Later)_

"You have gotta be kidding me" Tony slammed his fist down and paced the room "You said we had weeks!"

"Turns out we over-estimated" he said "All that matters is this thing is going down tomorrow"

"This is ridiculous!"

"Tony we don't have a choice!" Jack yelled.

"Are we even ready?" Gael asked.

"Yes we _are_" Jack assured them "We know the plan… we have everybody set in place"

"I don't like this Jack" Tony said losing his cool "I hate this Jack! How are we supposed go through this whole thing telling _lies_ to all the people around us" Everyone in the room knew he meant Michelle, it was clear this was gonna be hardest for Tony.

"You are protecting her" Jack reiterated.

"It doesn't feel like it"

As he was driving home he couldn't get out of his head that tomorrow would be a terrible day and out of that entire terrible day there would be one _especially_ terrible moment which broke his heart just thinking about it. There would come a moment when Michelle would realize that for the past month he hadn't been honest with her… he could only imagine the look on her face… he tried to prepare himself for it, but he knew he would never be ready to see the heartbreak in her eyes… all he could do is pray that she would understand that he only did it to protect her and that he did love her and hated lying to her.

_You're there by my side  
In every way  
I know that you would not forsake me  
I give you my life  
Would not think twice  
Your love is all I need believe me_

I may not say it quite as much as I should  
When I say I love you darling that means for good  
So open up your heart and let me in

And I will love you 'til forever  
Until death do us part we'll be together  
So take my hand and hold on tight  
And we'll get there  
This I swear

I'm wondering how I ever got by  
Without you in my life to guide me  
Where ever I go the one thing that's true  
Is everything I do I do for you

_(Later)_

"So how was work today you two?" Bella asked Tony and Michelle.

"Actually I didn't go today, Tony insisted I stay home"

"What? Why?" Gina asked.

"I woke up to her puking this morning" Tony said.

"I felt fine though" Michelle insisted.

"Yea but she hasn't been 100% lately she's been getting headaches, she's always tired"

"Sounds to me like _someone_'s pregnant" Bella smiled.

Michelle looked at Tony "Ya think?" she asked him "I don't know... I'm not late… I don't think"

"Nah... I don't know… could be… but we'll take you to the doctor just in case, I think you just have that bug that's been going around" he said rubbing her shoulder.

"Yea" she said.

"Speaking of which Corey got that pretty bad, that's why he's not here"

"Aww poor Corey tell him I said I hope he feels better and I will bake him something to make him feel better" Bella offered.

"Yea tell him I said I hope he feels better too and I _won't_ bake something for him so that he won't get sicker" Michelle laughed.

Two hours later Tony and Michelle were all snuggled up in bed falling asleep. Tony had Michelle wrapped up in his arms. Tony stared down at Michelle and thought about the next day's plans. She had no idea. He hoped it would all go according to plan and work out. And most of all he hoped she would forgive him and still trust him. He hated nothing more than hurting her. He hoped she wouldn't be mad at him even though she would have every right to be.

"Hey Tony" Michelle said softly.

"Yea baby?" he mumbled running his fingers through her hair.

"Do you think I'm pregnant?" Michelle asked. She had not been able to get it off her mind all night.

Tony had been so pre-occupied with what would be happening tomorrow he hadn't given it much thought yet. "It's a definite possibility... you did stop taking the pill right?"

"Yea but... already?" she said.

"It would be a good thing though right?" Tony said.

A smile spread across her face at the thought "Yea" she turned over to face him "It would be a good thing"

Tony smiled "Tell you what" he said cupping her face "Tomorrow on the way to work we'll pick up a test and tomorrow night we'll find out for ourselves if it's time for a baby Almeida"

She kissed him "I'm so excited!" she smiled.

"Me too baby" he smiled gazing into her sparkling eyes.

"I can't wait" she smiled closing her eyes.

"Same here, lets get some sleep tomorrows gonna be a long day"

"Why?"

Tony realized his mistake, he was getting tired, he thought quickly "We have work tomorrow and work always goes by slower when you're excited for something"

She nodded "Yea president Palmer will be in town too"

"Yea" Tony remembered.

"Goodnight sweetheart"

"Goodnight baby" he kissed her head and closed his eyes.


	100. Chapter 100 What Happens Tomorrow

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. ESPECIALLY IN THIS CHAPTER. Most of this dialogue does not belong to me. (Lyrics by _Duran Duran_)

_**In response to all the reviews I got for Chapter 99 I hurried to get this up, so here it is… _

_the chapter you've all been waiting for… and dreading at the same time lol… _

_the day everything falls apart…Season 3**_

~ Chapter 100 ~

Michelle opened her eyes. 'Are we late?' she thought frantically. She looked up at the clock it was 5:57AM, they didn't need to be up for another hour, but Michelle felt awake, which was odd because she was never up before the alarm and she was usually very difficult to get out of bed. A smile spread across her face as she remembered what they had talked about the night before. She couldn't wait to go get a pregnancy test and find out. She also wondered if they'd hear from Larry Hertzog at Langley today, she hoped they'd have a job for her. These new jobs would be ideal for starting a family and it would also be a major career move.

Tony's arms were wrapped tightly around her. She smiled up at him. He looked so _relaxed_ and she didn't want to wake him but she was so excited. "Tony" she said running her fingers through his hair "Sweetheart"

He slowly opened his eyes "Hey" he smiled lightly glancing over at the clock and noticing it was early "You ok?" he asked in a heavy sleepy voice.

"Perfect" she answered.

He smiled laid his head back down next to hers, so close their noses were touching "You _are_ perfect" he smiled kissing her lightly. He rubbed his eyes "So why are you up so early?"

"I don't know, I'm just anxious to hear from Langley"

"And take that test" he finished knowingly with a smile.

Her smile grew "Especially that"

"To see if we have ourselves a baby Almeida," he cooed poking her stomach softly.

Michelle giggled, "Don't poke her"

"Her?" Tony stopped "Oh no! No, no, no" he chuckled "_This_" he caressed her "Will be Tony Almeida Jr."

"Yea?" Michelle giggled raising her eyebrows "Tony two?"

"My mini-me" he smiled affectionately.

"You don't want a girl?"

"I want anything that comes from _you_ baby" he kissed her "Because you're perfect"

She kissed him passionately as he pulled her under him and slid his boxers off her down her thighs. He stopped and put his head down next to her stomach "If you're in there cover your eyes Tony Jr…" he muttered with a chuckle returning back to her. The smile on her face and full and complete look of happiness and unconditional love in her eyes stopped his breathing and he felt his heart beating so fast he was getting dizzy.

At this moment he was completely lost in loving her, right now nothing else existed, just her. Her beautiful face, her glistening eyes, her perfect body, which he ached to be inside of. He pulled her face to his and kissed her hungrily pushing against her instinctually. She giggled against him muttering something about his boxers still being on. He felt her slide them off and he dove into her. He felt her body react powerfully as he held her close giving her everything he had.

_(Later)_

"We are gonna be late if we don't get moving soon" Michelle smiled as she played with his hair.

Tony's heart dropped… he didn't want today to start.

She picked up on this "What's wrong?"

"I don't wanna go to work" he said trying to mask his emotions.

"You say that every day" she smiled.

"Well I mean it" he said "I'd much rather stay here with you" he said pulling her in close.

She smiled softly "Well, what if I tell you going to work is good?"

"Why is that?" he asked.

"The faster we go to work, the faster we can get home" she smiled "And I'm promising you right now… you wanna get home as fast as possible, because you are really in for some fun tonight" she said seductively "I have a surprise for you" she smiled.

"You have no idea how much I can't wait"

Tony and Michelle pulled up to their favorite coffee shop; like every other day "I hope he has everything ready" Tony said climbing out.

"He always does, you just like to talk" she smiled over at him before he closed the door and headed into the shop. She looked up into the mirror, she couldn't stop smiling, she felt like a goofball, she looked down at the bag form the pharmacy with the test in it and felt a flutter of excitement in her stomach, tonight couldn't come fast enough.

Tony came back 5 minutes later "Sorry baby I did my best, _he_ was the one talking to _me_ today, but I was as quick as I could be"

"I coulda done it quicker" she smiled.

"Yea, yea, yea" he smiled "We'll see about that tomorrow"

_(Later)_

Tony and Michelle walked into CTU smiling. Tony headed up to his office and Michelle sat down at her station putting her purse in her drawer. "Good morning Michelle" Kim smiled walking up to her desk.

"Hey Kim" Michelle smiled logging in to her computer.

"You seem happy" Kim smiled.

"I am" Michelle nodded.

Sensing she wasn't going to tell her why Kim skipped the subject "Early morning protocols went down fine, president Palmer is running ahead of schedule and everything looks good"

"Great" Michelle nodded "Thank you"

_(That afternoon)_

24~24~24~SEASON 3 BEGINS~24~24~24

When CTU was re-built, it was done in a special way. There were now two offices that towered high above the others with conference room beneath them. Each office was surrounded with a special type of glass. This glass was clear most of the time but could be darkened with the push of a button. Tony and Michelle had used this feature many times to block out the rest of CTU during intimate moments. When they were inside the darkened glass nothing could be seen, this was similar to how it felt when there was a situation at CTU. Outside CTU their world was happy and clear… perfect. But whenever a crisis started at CTU, it felt like someone had pushed the button to darken the glass around them. They had learned to completely pull themselves away from their perfect outside life and focus completely on the situation.

The same was true this day. The day began normally until a phone call from Sonny Macer announced a possible threat, which later became a reality. Tony and Michelle, as usual have to push their relationship aside and be as detached as they can and be completely professional. Suddenly all thoughts about babies and promotions fade away as their worlds darkened and the worst day of their lives began…

_(Later)_

Michelle's phone rang "Dessler"

"Hey, it's me… look I'm heading off-site to Los Feliz Mall to get Kyle Singer, I need you to take over CTU"

"Ok, no problem" she said quickly, then there was a brief silence. A silence in which he could hear her heart saying 'Please be careful, I love you' and she could hear his saying 'I love you and I will be back as soon as I can'

"Thank you" he said, reluctantly breaking the silence.

"Yea" she said softly hanging up.

_(30 minutes later)_

BANG

Tony watched the mall spin around his head as he crumpled to the ground. He felt warm liquid rushing out all over his neck and across his face. He immediately put his hands over the wound and tried to breathe, what came out surprised him… her name… it was below a whisper but he felt the name echo through his body. He put pressure on his wound and did his best to stay awake for _her_.

_(30 minutes later)_

The heart and the mind are not connected. Ask any female. They are not connected and most of the time… they do not agree.

"There's been gunshots at the mall"… The mind says to Michelle that there are many people in the mall that could have been shot. The heart knows it was him and is already breaking to pieces. Michelle is stuck in the middle.

"It's Jack on the phone"… The mind is silenced and the heart takes control.

"Jack it's Michelle where's Tony?" She listens to Jack. He's been shot. Her husband has been shot… in the neck… the neck is a vital part of the body… the phone call ends, Tony is being rushed to the hospital.

"Is Tony alright?" Kim asks.

"They don't know he's been shot in the neck," Michelle answers quickly.

Michelle tries with all her strength to regain her composure, but she feels like dropping to the floor in tears. 'Tony! My baby! I want Tony!' her heart cries out. She bites her lip and takes a deep breath as she hears Chloe chattering about the servers moving slowly "Offload the archive files and send them to Division that should free up the network" she answers and once Chloe is gone she looks up "I have to get to the hospital" she says with her heart pounding in her chest she hurries away only to be stopped by Adam "I am not in a position to deal with this right now"

"Who else is there? You're the ranking agent on site"…and just like that the mind kicks back in screaming 'You can't just leave! CTU can't take losing both of you!' as her heart is screaming 'I don't care! I just want to be with him, hold him, make sure he's okay, nothing else matters'… her mind argues 'This operation will fail if you leave! Millions of people will die! Would Tony want that?' The mind takes control as she heads back into the conference room ordering Kim to keep her updated on Tony.

All she knew is that if he was breathing on his own…. He was better off than her

_(10 minutes later)_

"I'm looking for Tony Almeida's wife"

"Yes this is Michelle" she hoped it was good news. She listened and told him to do whatever he needed to for Tony. She wished she could talk to him, tell him how much she loved him, but he was medicated. The Dr. Lindsor says he'll find her in the waiting room when the surgery is over "Doctor I will do my best to be there, but you might have to reach me through this number" she says reluctantly feeling like the worst wife ever.

When the phone call is over, as she sits in his office she begins to cry. All she wanted to do was be with her husband who was struggling for his life. She had to be there, she would find a way somehow, because when it came to Tony, her heart would never be silenced.

_(Later)_

She misses him. In every way. Her world is spinning so fast she's dizzy… and with Jack gone too she's completely alone. Tough decisions need to be made and she can't focus knowing she may never see him smile again. She glances up at his office, wishing to see him there smiling down at him like he always did. She calls to check on him and then pulls up the video feed from his OR. When it opens her breath catches in her throat. His blood is all over.

What killed her was the expression on his face. He was completely relaxed. Just as he had been only hours ago when she had woken him at home in their cozy bed. Memories of that morning began to flood her mind causing her to almost lose control. She pushed them to the side with all of her might and began breathing slowly, the way Tony had taught her.

_(Later)_

She turned the key and the Denali's engine roared to life. She couldn't wait to be with him, touch him, kiss him and make sure he was ok. As she drove she glanced down at the picture by the tachometer and smiled softly at how much she loved him. She was so glad he would fully recover and she would take great care of him, he had always taken care of her so now she would do the same for him. She sped through the streets until she finally reached the hospital. Once inside she flashed her badge and proceeded straight to his room.

She peeked into his room and saw them pulling the curtain away. He was just opening his eyes. Questions flew through his mind making him dizzy but the most important question 'Michelle? Where-' before he could even wonder she came through the door. She looked pale, but she was beautiful.

"Hey" he smiled and she kissed him. He was ok, everything was ok, she was here and that was all he needed "How ya doing?"

She was astounded by the question. How was she doing? She wasn't the one who had just almost died! Her Tony was so perfect, asking how she was when he had a bullet hole in his neck. 'I almost lost him' she thought suddenly not being able to breathe "You scared the hell outta me" she answered trying not to cry.

"Yea I know, I'm sorry" he apologized.

"How's he doing Doctor?" she smiled with happy tears threatening to spill from her eyes at his smile.

"We couldn't have hoped for a better result. He should be in his feet in a few days."

"When can he come home?" she smiled in a shaky voice so full of emotion.

"Probably tomorrow, I just want to keep an eye on him, make sure he stays stable."

Tony was thinking about something "Listen, Doctor, could we have a couple of minutes please?"

Doctor Lindsor nodded "Of course."

"Thanks." Tony says looking into Michelle's eyes as the doctor leaves. "Michelle"

She was full of nothing but love "Yeah?"

"Did the President let Salazar out of prison?"

He was so behind, poor Tony, he wanted to help, he was so dedicated and she loved him more for it "No, no. Jack broke him out. We think he did it so that the President wouldn't have to make the hard choice."

"Did he get away?"

"Yeah"

"I have to talk to Gael right away" he said urgently.

"What, Gael?" she asked. Why Gael, of all random people? Why couldn't he just tell her?

"Yeah, what, did something happen to him?"

"Tony, Gael's been working for the Salazars"

"How do you know that?"

"He was using Tech One to monitor Salazar's escape, and then when we found out he tried to run."

"Where is he now?"

"He's still at CTU. Chappelle and Johnson are questioning him." Michelle answered. Tony pulled himself up the best he could and tried to get up. His entire operation was running out of control. Jack was in play and would need their back-up once he got to Mexico and Gael had been taken out of play. He had to get back to CTU and take control of this mess, he was the only capable one who knew what was actually going on. "No, honey," she tried to stop him "where, where are you going?

"You have to get me over there right now"

He was in no condition to run CTU, let alone sit up "No, you're no going anywhere!" she said with worry "Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!"

The doctor tries to push Tony back down "Mr. Almeida, what are you doing?"

"Look, I have to get out of here, alright. You can release me to CTU Medical if you want"

"I can't do that," the doctor said.

"Ok, look! Look!" he said catching his breath "If you're worried about liability, my _wife_'ll sign me out" He looked up into Michelle's eyes "Look Michelle, if I ever needed you to trust me, it's _now_" The look in his eyes told her it was important. She trusted him with _her life_, but trusting him with _his_ life was a lot more risky… he was the one she couldn't live without, but she would trust him, she had to.

She signed the AMA forms and walked back into Tony's room. He was sitting on the bed. "I did it," she said quietly.

"Thank you baby," he said, "Look, I need to get dressed" he said pointing to the bag of clothes she had brought.

"Ok" she said helping him take off his robe. She pulled out his boxers and helped him climb into them. Next she helped him with his pants and shirt. She brought over his socks and shoes, putting them on and tying his shoes for him since bending that far down would be painful.

They didn't talk much in the car. They held hands, as always, but it was silent..

"How do you feel?"

He looked over at her. He owed her some honesty "I have a headache and my back hurts but the wound is ok… they gave me some painkillers"

"Tony what's going on?" she asked.

He looked over at her "I can't-" he stopped "Look, I'll explain everything when we get to CTU"

As they walked through CTU Michelle watched Tony struggle as he walked. She was ready to catch him if he lost his balance, she was so worried and confused. Meanwhile, everyone around them looked at them as if they were seeing a ghost. Less than hours ago this man was half dead on the floor and now he was walking through CTU as if nothing ever happened and Michelle was at his side. Everyone could tell by the look on her face she was helplessly worried but standing by him "What the _hell_ is going on?" they all whispered.

Tony ordered the guard to open the door to interrogation "Almeida _what_ are you doing here?" Ryan said in utter shock.

"Get him out of the room" Tony ordered leaning on the table.

"Why?"

"Trust me Ryan, get him out of the room" he said and Johnson left the room.

"You too Ryan" he said.

"What?"

"I gotta talk to Gael by myself, all right? Just trust me on this one."

He looked over at Michelle, why would she allow this? There was no way she was ok with this, so why? "_Michelle what is going on_?" She was completely lost for words. "Look, I don't care what's going on between you two, I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here" he said stubbornly.

_(Later)_

"Yea alright, good" Tony says hanging up the phone and standing up. He crumples onto the ground. His head was throbbing. If Michelle had been in the room she'd have run to his side and helped him up with her soft hands and loving embrace… he longed for her, she was just downstairs, but he missed her. He had to get up before anyone saw him, especially her, he didn't want her to worry. He pulled himself up. He had to be more careful.

_(15 minutes later)_

He was sitting on his desk now. There she was at his door. "You should be in the hospital," she said with worry.

She was right and he knew it, but this was too important, this could not happen without him. "I'm fine. Whatcha got?" he asked.

She explained the papers to him and watched him closely looking for any signs of weakness.

"Is something wrong?" he asked knowing already what she was thinking.

"Just worried about you, that's all" she said softly.

He knew there was more "Uh huh? What is it?"

"It's not the time" she said starting to move away before he could break down the fragile walls she had put up between them.

"Michelle… what is it?" His eyes, his voice… the wall came crumbling down.

"This whole thing that you've been planning with Jack…" she fought to keep her composure she didn't want to upset him.

He knew this moment would come. He had hated keeping something from her, it had been causing him so much pain "Look, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. Jack planned it and he wanted absolute secrecy and I agreed" he wasn't going to excuse himself.

"You don't have to explain…"

The pain was so clear in her eyes and it broke his heart "No, I want to explain" he said wanting to wrap her in his arms… but the glass was clear and they were being watched "Listen to me, I trust you with my life, but this job is what it is" he mentally kicked himself… the job should have never come before her, he hated this.

She wanted to forgive him, but she couldn't until she knew the full extent of it "Jack said he came up with the plan a month ago, is that how long you've known?"

"Something like that, yeah" he felt terrible.

"I just…" she struggled to find words "I had no idea you were hiding something from me" the words were like splinters in their hearts "But that's my problem" she said giving him a small smile before walking out.

Through the hours he could feel her watching him. She was worried, he said he was fine but she _knew_ he was in pain, she could look in his eyes and tell how he was feeling, even when he tried to cover it up. She hated the distance between them, she didn't like that he had kept this from her but she was ready to forgive that, she loved him too much to hold the grudge, all he wanted was for him to open back up to her. Al she wanted was for him to tell her he was in pain, all she wanted was to ease his pain.

And when she wasn't looking he'd watch her. He loved her so much, most women would be pissed at him, most women would be giving him the cold shoulder, she had every right to these things, but she was better than that. In the face of this… she still worried about him, still longed for him and he could feel it. It tortured him how perfect she was, he didn't deserve it and he would do anything to make it right.

Later she is faced with people doubting him. She has had her doubt and worries form the start but she trusts him. They won't confront him, they are afraid to, they know he will be angry with them, yell at them, replace them… but not her. He doesn't get angry with _her_. She's the only one who they all know he would never hurt. So if they have a problem with him they come to her "Michelle, you're his wife, but you're also second in command and if Tony can't do the job, somebody has to tell Chappelle, and I think that someone should be you."

She tries to talk to him "Sweetheart you should still be in the hospital. If you're not a hundred percent you should step down," she told him gently.

He argues and she pushes him, but he won't budge. He snaps at her insisting she's fine. It kills her but he leaves her no choice. She goes to Chappelle and she hates it, but she can't let him fail, maybe this time she has to save him from himself, even if he doesn't want it.

15 minutes later she's proven wrong. Tony made no mistakes. The frustration in his voice was clear to her. She felt awful for doubting him, but she felt helpless. He wouldn't talk to her and maybe that was her fault for the distance she put between them. He was her other half and with this space between them she felt completely disoriented and disconnected, like half of her was paralyzed. She hated this day and everything about it.

And it was nowhere near over.

_(Later)_

"I owe you an apology" She tries to apologize.

He doesn't want her to be sorry, he would have done the same, but it still hurts him that she didn't trust him… then again he could understand after what she just found out "You don't… Look, if you thought I wasn't fit to do my job, then you had a duty to report it… but you should know that I would never risk the effectiveness of this unit just to prove how tough I am"

"I know that. I just felt that-"

"I know what you felt! You made that perfectly clear," he snapped. She doesn't care if he snaps at her, she knows he doesn't mean it… he's frustrated and worn, but they need to make this right.

The phone rings and she's called downstairs… damn that phone. It's pointless to start with him now, it'll have to wait…

_(Later)_

Her head is killing her, she's taken something, but the pain won't ease. Every time he looks at her she can see that he is suffering too. She wished she could pause the world around them and talk to him, to make things right with him so she could feel better… when she had him she knew she could face anything, but right now she was plagued with the most painful thing… the two inches between them that felt like a thousand miles.

"Michelle _you_ were the ranking agent" Chappelle turned to her.

"I" more pain shot through her head as she tried to speak "I didn't think Europe was a priority" she explained to Chappelle.

"Obviously it was" Tony said… this time the shot of pain was in her heart.

"There was _a lot_ going on at the time" She had decided not update the European contact logs to save time so she could hurry to the hospital and she could not believe _he_ of all people was reprimanding her for this.

_Fighting because we're so close  
There are times we punish those who we need the most  
Though we can't wait for a savior  
Only got ourselves to blame for this behavior  
_

He looked over at her and could tell she had been taken aback at his harsh words, he regretted hurting her, he was frustrated, but knew he shouldn't take it out on her. When the meeting was over he called her name, but she walked right past him.

She would have stopped to talk, but she was almost in tears as it was, and she knew for certain his soft apologetic voice would cause her to melt and she'd start crying and there would be no stopping it. She was not about to fall apart in front of Chappelle and all their co-workers so she walked past him.

He let his head down, no matter how mad she was, she would normally at least have stopped to talk to him, she didn't ignore him because she was mad and he knew it, she was ignoring him because she couldn't take much more.

_(Less than an hour later)_

Nina. Wonderful. Just what they needed. As if there wasn't enough stress on them right now… the evil ex-girlfriend was here… Michelle's head continued to throb and she took another Advil to try and ease the pain as she headed toward the interrogation room "We up yet?" she asked.

"So Tony's doin this?" asked the techie next to her, Dalton asked.

"Yea" Michelle answered knowing what he was thinking and really not wanting to talk about it.

"Isn't that gonna be weird for you?"

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked.

"Didn't he and Nina go out?" Dalton asked nervously.

"Yea" she answered as Tony walked in.

"We set?" Toy asked.

Oh how she wished they were alone right now to make things right before this interrogation begins, but now wasn't the time "Yea" she answered simply, trying to stay as professional and neutral as possible.

"Alright I want you to do a high-res on her eyes, she's tired, we might be able to pick up a tell" he told even though he knew she already knew that, he was really just buying time to try and think of how to make things right with her, he knew this had to be incredibly hard for her to do, especially after the rough day they'd been having.

"Ok" she answered simply.

There was no way to get around it he just had to say it as professionally as possible "So are we alright?" he said wishing for her eyes to look into his and assure him she was fine.

"Yea we're fine"

"Alright" he said knowing that meant she was not alright, but it would hold "Let's do this"

She watched him go wishing she had said something better, something to reassure him that she loved him and was not angry with him. She watched him closely during the interrogation, she had never seen Tony and Nina together and while she knew he loved her and she knew it was ridiculous, she couldn't help but be a little worried that he might be mad enough at her to miss Nina, or that in his weakened state, Nina might hurt him. "I already told Jack everything I know"

"Well now I want you to tell me" he said, she could see the anger in his eyes and Michelle felt relieved and silly for ever doubting him.

"Hmm first Jack and now you…what does that remind me of?" she smiled. That hurt, Michelle's heart winced for him, she wanted to cry for not making him feel better before he went into this, he had asked her if they were ok as reassurance she loved him and she had been cold, she wanted to take it back…and even more she wished she could punch Nina for him as he calmly continued the interrogation "That's a nice ring" she said eyeing his ring "Who's the lucky girl?" It took every ounce of Michelle's strength not to walk in there "Hope you did a background check though cuz…you wouldn't wanna make the same mistake twice" This was killing Michelle, absolutely killing her, she wanted that woman dead and she wanted Tony back in her arms, this was too much for her, but he brushed past it and stayed calm, she needed his calmness, she needed him so much "Very incisive, I hope your wife appreciates that about you" Michelle blinked tears back, he was incisive and she loved him for that and so many other things and she wished she had been more patient to him, she wished she had told him she loved him before he went inside, but they'd be fine, she knew it, why? Because _she_ was the lucky girl whom Tony Almeida loved and no one could change that, not even Nina.

_(Later)_

"What happened?" the voice he loved called.

He turned to her "Nina's dead"

She searched his eyes for remorse and found none "Jack shot her"

She stopped "Was it… justified?" she asked, mirroring his thoughts.

"Jack wouldn't risk this operation just to get vengeance" he said.

"You sure about that?" she asked, once again saying exactly what was going through his head.

_(Later)_

"What the hell is this?" Tony as he saw Michelle striding toward him in one of her field outfits.

Michelle motioned for the team to go ahead of her, she knew he wasn't going to like this "Ryan assigned me to head the team that's going to the hotel"

Ryan stood behind her and Tony quickly said "Ryan this is not-"

"I don't wanna hear it, as the director of CTU, you have an obligation to stay here at the center of information. Michelle has more hours of disaster control simulation than anyone else on staff, not to mention her practical experience with the DC anthrax outbreak, Michelle will lead the team and Gael will second, you will be in constant communication, pass on any guidance you can on any intel that comes in" he said walking away, knowing they'd need a minute.

Michelle looked into his eyes, she could tell he hated this "They're waiting for me" she said softly heading away.

"Michelle" he called after her.

She turned and they locked eyes "Look I don't care what Ryan says, I can get somebody from Division to take your place"

"No, he's right" she said regretfully "I should be the one to go"

He looked her in the eye and she saw a flash of fear and love that made her heart skip a beat as he said "Alright then you let me know the second you get your people set" his voice weakened with emotion "Alright?"

She nodded giving him a look that he knew meant 'I love you' and he watched her go wishing this day could just be over already.

Five minutes later he heard her voice on the phone and felt a little better. He told her it would be a significant amount of time before NHS reached the hotel, she argued they couldn't wait that long "You _wait_ til NHS gets there Michelle, that's an order!" he said.

She sighed "Fine" she hated everything about this situation, she loved him and knew he was trying to protect her, but at the same time she wished he could stop worrying so much and let her do her job "Anything else?"

"No" he said in frustration. She understood his anger, but still wished everything could be the way it had been this morning when he was holding her and they were safe in their bed.

"What's wrong?" Gael asked as she hung up the phone.

"Just stuff between Tony and me" she said sadly.

"Sorry"

"Things haven't been right since he got back from the hospital"

"Last couple months Tony and I have been working pretty closely together, planning this operation" Gael said "It's been eating away at him that he hasn't been able to talk to you about it"

Suddenly her heart ached, she wanted to cry… he had been in pain, he had wanted to tell her and it had been _eating away at him_. She wished she could tell him she forgave him, that she loved him, that she didn't care what he'd done "I just want this day to end" she sighed rubbing her head.

Less than 25 minutes later the virus was released…_enough to kill everyone in the building_…that included her…there were 11 more vials…this was huge…her phone began to ring and she knew all too well who it would be and she knew all too well how he would feel about her current situation. "Keep an eye on him" she told a fellow agent…she would need privacy for this conversation.

She opened the phone "Dessler" she said in a slightly shaky voice.

"Michelle, what's the status?" Tony asked.

"Alvers planted the virus in the central ventilation system in a timed detonation device and it went off as Gael was trying to disarm it"

"He was in direct contact?"

"Yea… he's shutting down the system now, but we have to assume its permeated the entire building"

"Michelle within 14 hours anyone expose to the virus will become symptomatic" he reminded her "They will infect anyone they come in contact with"

Her blood curdled at the knowledge that, that would be her , suddenly she couldn't breathe "Yea I know" she said as calmly as possible, then she turned and tried to stay focused "No one can be allowed to leave the building, we have to impose a total quarantine"

"Scramble a code 6 perimeter"

"We have to be careful about this Tony, when people realize what's going on there will be widespread panic"

"Alright our people will hold a hundred yard radius, stay out of sight, and LAPD and health services will move in adjacent to the hotel"

"Good, the vial that Alvers planted, he said there were 11 more"

"Alvers told you this?" he asked.

"I just left him"

"You just left him?" he said in confusion "Michelle…he could have been exposed to the virus, how'd he get outside the hotel?" She was silent "_Michelle_"

"He didn't leave the hotel" she said having the terrible feeling she knew where this was going "He's still in the basement"

Tony was breathless… No… NO! It couldn't be what he thought "Are you _inside_!"

"Yea" …here it came… here comes the yelling, here comes the worrying, here comes all the pain and it was her fault… she hated this… in fact… hate wasn't even a strong enough word.

His mind was reeling as he felt his heart drop to the floor "What the hell are you doing in there?" he couldn't even think straight as his head spun in terror.

"I wasn't trying to be a hero Tony, it was the only decision I could make" she explained.

"Alright how far away from the ventilation room are you?" he tried.

"I'm not sure" she knew it was hopeless and none of it mattered, to hear him grasping for hope broke her heart.

"Ok, look, health service is bringing protective gear, I want you to put it on as soon as they get there, now if we can getcha outside the hotel, we can isolate you, til they do tests-"

"Tony" she shook her head "_Tony_…TONY I can't leave" she stopped him, but he wouldn't let go.

"Are you listening to me!" he yelled "I'm _ordering_ you to get out" he said desperately.

"Well that's an order I can't obey" she said "As it is there are only 7 other agents, including Gael and a hotel _full_ of people who need to be contained and controlled… communications, testing procedures… it all has to be co-ordinated and _I'm_ the ranking officer"

"Michelle look-" he said in a softer tone.

"I've been exposed, there's nothing anyone can do" she said firmly, trying to be strong for him. A silence hung between them when neither knew what to say but both knew what the other was thinking and they could feel…stronger than ever, the love for one another. Michelle began explaining the other vials, but Tony's mind was far gone. His wife was _dying_ and he was utterly powerless.

_(Later)_

"Michelle is inside the Chandler Plaza Hotel" Jack heard Tony tell him over the phone.

Jack looked over at Chase. She was gonna die. How was he even still working right now? Tony Almeida was nothing but hopelessly devoted to that woman and now she was about to die a horrible death… this day was getting uglier and uglier by the second. "The virus has been altered" Jack told him.

"So you're saying she has a chance?" Tony asked hopefully.

"We hope so" Jack said looking at Chase again… what a mess.

_(Later)_

Now Tony was on the phone with Nicole Dunken, still searching for hope. He learned the virus in its unaltered form had a 90% mortality rate…. 10%... 10%, she had to be that 10%... he explained the virus was altered and asked hopefully if that could increase the survivability.

She sighed knowing what he was thinking "It's possible Tony" she said sadly "We will do everything we can for her"

_(Later)_

"The virus is everywhere and I've been_ breathing_ it" his heart stopped at her words

"_I don't know, I'm just anxious to hear from Langley"_

"_And take that test" he finished knowingly with a smile._

_Her smile grew "Especially that"_

"_To see if we have ourselves a baby Almeida," he cooed poking her stomach softly._

"Michelle-" he said softly into the phone.

He heard her voice begin to weaken "We can't do this now" she said, he knew she was close to her breaking point… and if their minds they were in the same place, as they usually were, like him…she was ready to cry.

_(Later)_

"Please, please if I can have your attention" Michelle said as people in panic tried to leave the hotel after the fire alarm had been triggered… this could get bad so she had to think quick "I am a federal agent, I am here because about half an hour ago a toxic substance was released outside around this building" she was a liar. As she continued to talk she hated herself for these ugly lies "As long as you stay in this hotel you are safe" LIES. Bold-faced lies… not one of them was safe… no matter where they were... they would all die… these poor innocent people would suffer and die… and she was standing here telling them they were safe. She hated herself.

_(Later)_

"IT'S INSIDE THE BUILDING!" Many people began screaming as a frenzy began.

"Sir! Calm down!" she ran after him "Everyone out of my way!" she yelled. He threw a trash can through the glass and Michelle shot the ceiling twice to gain all attention "Hold it right there!" she pointed her gun at him 'shoot to kill' she remembered dreadfully "Step away from the window!" she ordered and he eyed her closely "I said step away from the window! If you try to leave I _will_ shoot you" she warned.

"No you won't"

Those were his last words. She shot him twice. That's how she was trained. Shoot to kill. Twice in the chest to be sure. The breeze blew her hair as her blood turned to ice and she couldn't move. He was innocent, impatient, but innocent… and now he was dead.

"Oh Danny!" she heard a woman cry "No, no Danny no…who did this? Who killed him?" she cried and looked Michelle straight in the eyes "You? You're a federal agent…you were _supposed to _protect him! You were supposed to protect him!"

A few minutes later her favorite thing, the only thing that could make her feel better "How you doin?" he said softly.

"I'm fine" she quickly assured him "so far" she paused "I just-"

"What?" he said, knowing from her voice something was wrong.

"Things got crazy… I had to shoot a man" he sighed, he knew this was her weakness, her heart, he was sure she had a very good reason for shooting the man, but also knew she always had a hard time justifying killing people "He was trying to get out of the hotel and… he's dead"

"Michelle" He said taking her attention "You did what you had to do… the only thing ya coulda done, you need to stay focused alright?" these were the words of her other half, she knew…. Those were the exact thoughts she could hear in her own mind but she couldn't take them seriously until they came from him.

Tony could not take any more as he yelled at NHS that his wife was dying with a hotel of people and they had no vaccine he hung up and Kim walked in and he told her who he had been talking to and that the mortality rate was 100%."Ya know today when Michelle told Ryan I should step down because of my wound" he shook his head "I barely even spoke to her" he couldn't even finish the thought before they were interrupted by Ryan reprimanding him for focusing too much on Michelle, this really couldn't get worse…right?

_(Later)_

"Tony"

"Yea?"

"I realize we've both been talking around this but" she said softly "if my test comes back positive" he felt his body turn to Jello at the thought.

"Michelle don't go there" he couldn't think like this now, if he started thinking like this he'd surely fall apart.

"Sweetheart we both know my chances of survival are low"

"You still have a chance and while you still have a chance I don't wanna talk about this-"

"Ok" she whispered "Ok… just… no matter _what_… I just want you to know…" she said slowly "The last three years have been the _best_ years of my life"

The tears were coming he could feel it as his jaw quivered and if he was feeling it, he knew she was too and if she was in _anywhere near_ as much pain as he was right now, he should be holding her, taking away the pain as much as he could "I should be there with you"

"You are" she whispered, even across the city she could feel the warmth of his love, she knew that in some way, he was with her.

"No" he said "It's not the same!" he was beginning to break into tears but he kept himself composed the best he could.

As they hung up her heart ached for him and she looked across the lobby at a little girl holding her mother's hand, reminding her of another dream dying with her.

"_Her?" Tony stopped "Oh no! No, no, no" he chuckled_

"_This__" he caressed her "Will be Tony Almeida Jr."_

_(Later)_

Tony wanted to strangle someone. Jack getting in his face about Kim going out on assignment and now Chase screaming at him over the phone… why? Because that was _their_ loved one going into danger… what about his loved one? The one who was most likely already dying…. The one who made him who he was… the one he would surely die without…why were they special? Why do they get to demand she stay safe inside CTU? He didn't get that choice! No! Everyone expects him and Michelle to stay completely professional, like always… hell, Ryan even told him to pretend Michelle was already dead so he could focus! The nerve he had! But to be honest, he hadn't taken Ryan's advice, he had done the opposite, he was holding on for dear life to the hope that she would be ok, because if even _for just a second_ he let himself think of her not being okay… he would surely crumble to the ground.

Michelle did everything she could to try and read the look on Sonny Macer's face when she handed her at the white envelope with the NHS seal on it "Test results" she said simply with a small smile.

Michelle's skin turned to ice as she opened the envelope. She wished Tony were here to open it for her, but now she had to be strong for the both of them. She tore the envelope and read the results.

Then she read them again.

Then she read them again.

"No sign of Cordilla Type B virus found…" she read it again "Results: Negative" the words said in red, she re-read them and checked the name at the top to be sure it was hers "Michelle E (Dessler) Almeida"

For the first time in what felt like forever she took in a breath of air and felt overwhelmed with so many emotions she didn't know what to do. She put the papers down and reached for her phone. She looked down, 'what should she say?' it didn't matter, it was _him_, he would understand her no matter what she said.

"Almeida" she heard his worn voice say.

"Hey, it's me"

"What's going on?" he asked as shivers ran down his back at the thought of her test results.

She knew that he knew why she was calling so she searched for words "I'm ok" she said softly "I'm not infected"

"Are you sure?" he said not ready to let himself believe it unless it was true.

"Yea, they did a swab and a blood test and I'm gonna be fine" he heard her let out a shaky sigh "I'm gonna be fine"

She could here the relief "Oh Sweetheart that's fantastic!" he said "Look I want you to get outta there right now and get away from anyone who's infected-"

"Oh, no, no… no Sweetheart they said that those of us who didn't come down with the infection that…. We have an immunity to the virus"

"Well where are they taking you?"

"Downtown" she sniffed "To NHS, they want to keep us under watch for 18 hours" there was silence on his end, she could feel the fear and doubt creeping in on him so she spoke again "But it's just a formality"

"Ok" he said "I'll get there as soon as I can"

"No, no uh, stay where you are, they need you at CTU" No matter how much she would give anything to be with him right now she knew CTU needed him and the operation would crumble without him "I can work from downtown"

"Honey you don't have to work" he said softly "We can handle it from here"

"I wanna help Tony" she said in a whisper and he could tell she needed something to keep her mind busy while they were apart, he knew as well as she did that if he were to leave her to her thoughts she'd fall apart and neither of them wanted that until they were home, safe and together.

"Ok" This reminded him of how much he had almost lost, she had almost died, he felt himself losing control, he didn't want her to hang up yet, he needed to hear her voice just a little bit more "Michelle"

"Yea?" there it was her soft voice that reflected the emotions of his heart,

His voice broke "I can't believe I almost lost you"

Now she really wished he were there with her, he needed her, but she had to do the best she could to comfort him over the phone "I almost lost you too" she said quietly but then spoke up to give him strength "But we're still here"

"Yea" he whispered.

She knew she needed to let him go so he could recompose himself and get back to work, if she let him go on much longer like this he'd completely unravel "I have to go" she said as she saw NHS people filing down the hall "I'll call you from NHS" she promised.

"Hey" he said in a whisper "I love _you_" he said.

Her heart swelled "I love you so much"

_(Later)_

Everything was dark. Michelle could barely breathe. They took the sack off her head and took off her jacket "Well look at her" they smiled "Not bad Mr. Almeida, not bad" they laughed.

"I thought the hard-core chicks were all butch, but looky here we got ourselves a lady" another one said running his hands across her chest.

"Saunders wants her ready for live feed" They all stopped smiling and grabbed hold of her roughly making sure her gag was tight and putting a gun to her head as the put the camera in her face, she shuddered to think Tony would have to see this, he would be terrified, she hated this so much.

_(Meanwhile)_

"IP 257211165" Tony heard Saunders voice tell him… 'What could this be about?' he thought "By the way I'd like to offer you congratulations on your wife eluding infection from the virus"

Tony's heart hit the floor "How do you know about my wife?"

"Get on that site" his cold voice said. Tony opened up the file and he no longer felt any part of his body…there she was… her jacket was gone and she was being held tightly with a knife to the side of her face and a gag through her mouth "I don't _exactly_ know what they are doing to her… but I did instruct them to leave her _barely_ functional so that we could return her to you"

"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch" he threatened "I'll rip your damn throat out you hear me?"

"Michelle will be dead in 30 seconds if you don't do what I say" his silence said he was listening as he watched in horror "there are 5 agents watching the northeast exit of this building, 4 on the ground, and a sniper on the rooftop of the building next door, I'm assuming they are operating as a single unit, I want you to Code 9, send them to the front entrance… now"

"Jack Bauer's running the operation, I don't have the authority to do that"

"Kevin" Saunders said "Is Michelle still conscious?"

"Yes"

"Take an eye out" he said simply.

"No WAIT stop!" he said as a knife got close to her eye.

"Kevin, hold for a second"

Tony looked into her beautiful eyes and saw fear and it killed him "It's gonna take me some time"

"You have 30 seconds"

_(Later)_

"If any harm comes to my daughter, your wife _dies_. If my daughter isn't delivered to me when I say, your _wife_ _dies_." These words would not stop buzzing through Tony's head as everyone questioned him.

"How did we not capture Saunders?"

"Why did you move the teams?"

"What happened to the satellite feed?"

"How could this have happened?"

"How could he disappear into thin air?"

Tony didn't have much time "…and your wife _dies_" that disgusting voice whispered.

"Hey Tony I heard the news about Michelle" Kim said lightly.

"What news?" he said unsurely.

"That she didn't get infected with the virus" Kim said and he nodded, wishing that the virus was their only problem, but no… as soon as they got through one nightmare another one… "that's great news" Kim smiled.

Tony nodded "Yea"

_(Later)_

"No you have _my wife_, I wanna talk to _her_ first"

"Tony" the voice of an angel, his heart melted, she was alive "They won't let me say much" they pointed the gun at her "I am being treated well" suddenly she didn't care "Tony don't let them-" that was all he heard.

_(Later)_

"You're an attractive woman" Saunders said as he looked Michelle up and down "I'm guessing your husband would prefer you returned without any… disfigurements"

"I'm not telling you anything"

It was obvious to Saunders that this woman was selfless and did not value her life more than millions of people… so he had to call someone who _did _value her life more than millions...

"If whatever you are doing to trace these phone calls does not stop in the next 30 seconds, she'll be unrecognizable"

_He smiled laid his head back down next to hers, so close their noses were touching_

"_You __are__ perfect" he smiled kissing her lightly._

And Tony complied.

_(Later)_

The Denali flew down the road and Tony knew Jane would be getting suspicious, but that was the last thing he cared about right now. He glanced into the mirror and then down at the dash where the heartbreakingly beautiful picture was sitting, staring at him.

Michelle was livid. There wasn't even any way she could express how much she hated the men holding her. They had taken the one person she loved more than anything and ripped him inside out and now they were using her against him…to make him risk his life, sacrifice everything he loved and believed in, destroy his career and cause the death of easy billions of people…using her… his one weakness.

She stared at them and when Saunders walked away she pounded her fists against the window "At least 800 people are dead or dying in the Chandler Plaza Hotel, because Saunders released a weaponized virus into the ventilation system, what the media is reporting is a cover story, they're deflecting the truth to avoid mass panic, YOU'LL BE INFECTED ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE! NO MATTER WHAT HE'S PAYING YOU IT'S NOT WORTH LOSING YOUR LIFE!" she screamed but he turned away… he was a coward like the rest of them. Michelle knew what he was thinking, 'how could the media lie?'…fool….the media lied all the time…right now they were probably saying things that would mislead people to think it was some accidental chemical release in the building …nothing terrible….just an innocent accident is what they make it sound like… none of them knew the full truth, nor would they broadcast it.

As Tony drove down the road he was thinking of the last time he had gone down this street, it reminded him of some happy song he couldn't remember, but he could still hear her singing it. A black SUV that he recognized instantly came flying aggressively down the street to his left and he cut his wheel and the Denali screeched to a halt avoid the other vehicle, before he knew it Jack had a gun on him and they were screaming at each other.

"Look I almost lost her once today Jack I'm not losing her again!"

"I know, listen to me, I know exactly what you're going through, I've been there"

"And you handled it just like me you kept everyone else out of it!"

"Tony this is different millions of lives are at stake!"

"Yea rules apply to other people, but not to you right Jack?"

"Tony just calm down, alright? Come on"

"You help me make this trade, I'll turn myself in, go to prison, whatevers gotta happen"

"I can't do it" Jack said "We need Jane to lure her father in"

"Even if it means Michelle's gotta die?"

"Michelle does not have to die, we can string him along, but I need you to start working with me Chase has already got a strike team ready"

"No!" Tony screamed "No no no! Saunders sees I brought CTU into this he _kills_ Michelle!"

"He's not gonna know we are there"

Tony's world was spinning out of control so fast and he now felt like none of it was under his control.

This was ridiculous, she couldn't let Tony ruin his life like this, she knew he'd stop at nothing to save her and it scared the hell out of her. She had to stop this right now… she had to escape…then it hit her… she checked to see if anyone was watching and spun around scraping the inner lining of her nose as hard as she could until it began to gush blood. She began screaming and crying trying to attract attention.

"She's got it!" the guy said into the walkie talkie as Michelle snuck up behind him with a brick and took him down. She grabbed his gun and phone and wiped her nose. She heard them coming and had to move fast. She found doors and busted through the chains but it led to a caged in exit. 'No!' she thought. It didn't matter she was above ground, she could call now.

"CTU O'Brian"

"Chloe it's Michelle" Michelle said but Chloe couldn't hear her "Chloe can you hear me?" she said but she couldn't raise her voice too much.

"Look whoever this I have a really bad connection and I got a lot of stuff to do right now"

"No wait" she said desperately "Chloe!" she tried to call but Chloe was gone and she could hear Saunders coming, she had to move.

It didn't matter she soon found signal again and got through to Kim, 'Thank God' she thought.

"I have Michelle on the line" Tony heard and his heart jumped.

"Michelle it's _me_, where are you" Tony said knowing Michelle would know it was him.

"I'm not sure" she said pushing through the gate "A block east of Olive" she said continuing to run.

"Ok Chase send your strike team in now" Tony said.

"Chase don't" Jack said "Michelle I want you to listen to me very carefully, I want you to let Saunders catch you again"

"Are you crazy?" tony yelled.

"We have to let the exchange go down"

"It's the only way we're gonna catch him"

"You want me to give myself up?" she asked.

"Yes the exchange site is secure, I'll send our men in as soon as we're sure he's there" Michelle could hear arguing and she stopped running…poor Tony…her baby was fighting so hard for her…she could hear the fear in his voice "You are not in command here!" she heard Jack yelled and a thud which she guessed was Tony. "Get him out of here now! Now!"

"Jack…Jack" she could hear his voice calling "That's my _wife_ you son of a bitch! That's my wife! JACK!"

"We need this exchange to go through, everything depends on it, do you understand me?" Jack said to Michelle as she continued away from Saunders and began to slow down, she hated to do this to Tony, she knew he was in so much pain right now and she hated it… but she had to do this, the exchange site was secure, she'd be fine, he'd be fine, she had to do her job. "Michelle if he doesn't have you to trade, he's not gonna go through with this meeting" Jack said "Look we are not gonna get another chance at this, do you understand Michelle?"

"Yes" she panted.

"We will do everything we have to to make sure you come of this safe, but we've gotta move now"

She hated to have to do this… go back to those men, leave Tony worrying… she tried to catch her breath. 'Just do it… you'll be with him soon' she told herself.

_(Later)_

The suspense was going to kill him. His heart ached for her. Finally he heard noise over his Comm. that the SUVs were rolling in. He wondered which one she was in and if she was ok. He watched…and watched… and the door of the second SUV swung open.

And there she was. Beautiful. Frightened. Tough. Soft. Perfect. With a gun to her neck she stumbled toward him and his phone rang "When I see my daughter you get your wife"

He wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let go.

She walked toward him slowly and Jane walked the opposite way. Once Michelle passed Jane her eyes were locked with his and she was beginning to smile and his heart began to warm as he held his hand out to catch hers then suddenly…

"I can't" Jane whispered, the silence was broken and Stephen stood out of his car and Michelle knew what was about to happen so she ran to Tony for cover. Tony put his arm out to cover her as she ran and huddled behind him and he opened fire on Saunders men. Suddenly men in black gear were streaming down from the bridge and Saunders was surrounded. Michelle could hear planes roar past, then an explosion. She peaked through her fingers as the squads converged in between Tony and the other men. Once there was no more enemy fire Tony spun around and fell to his knees pulling her close to him "You ok?"

"Yea" she said and he kissed her forehead and she pulled him close and she sat on the ground and he held her tightly kissing the side of her face every few seconds, so happy to feel her warm wrapped in his arms again. A few minutes later they stood "You have no idea how happy I am to see you Sweetheart" he said holding his face with glassy eyes.

She sniffed trying to calm herself "Yes I do" she said hugging him again, never being able to get enough of him.

"Tony Almeida" a man with clipboard and papers called "I'm gonna need your on-site statement now… so we can… proceed" he said.

Tony nodded and Michelle shot him a pleading look that said '_Please_ tell me you didn't do anything terrible for me' and his look answered 'I did what I had to'

She watched with sad eyes as he spoke to the man about what had happened and his eyes never left her.

"We're handing you over to Brad Hammond at Division" the sound of the cuffs being tightened around his wrists broke her heart and she almost began to cry, he saw this and said "Michelle…" she looked away trying not to burst into tears "Hey" he said she looked up to him "It'll be ok… here take my keys" he said indicating to his left pocket. The guard holding him nodded and she reached into his pockets and took the keys. "Take the Denali… take a few minutes"

She tilted her head to the side as to say 'A few minutes? Alone? You know that's not what I _really_ need' but it didn't matter they were dragging him away to one of the CTU vehicles, she wished she could go with him… she needed time to just sit with him, because none of this felt real to her, she felt unearthed, scared and alone.

She felt a tear roll down her face as she looked down at his keys. She needed to get to his car now… She climbed into the SUV and turned it on and speeded out of the alley. As she drove she began crying and suddenly she wasn't paying any attention to the road so she pulled over and forced herself to breathe slowly and she pulled the tissues out of glove compartment cleaning her face, she couldn't go back to CTU a mess, after all she would have to still work at full capacity. She cleaned herself up and re-did her makeup and drove to CTU only wishing she'd see Tony there.

"Michelle we need to do a quick debrief and assess you before you get back to work" A few men from Division said stopping Michelle as she entered the bullpen.

Where they stupid? Did they really think they were gonna sit here and analyze her? She was trained to do this, they could never read her "Sure" she said as she sat down with them noticing the many people staring in awe that she was alive and safe… and not with Tony. They all had seen the videos of her being held hostage and had probably heard the phone calls of Tony trying to save her, they all knew and so…they all stared.

Most of them didn't know much about Tony and Michelle's relationship… they didn't know how close they were, how perfect their love was, but the ones who did know, were not surprised at Tony's actions and wore a small smile.

But when she did see Tony, it was not how she wanted. They brought him in the front doors… and marched him right through the bullpen… their eyes locked for a second. This was so wrong, he was being treated like a criminal when really he was the most brave and beautiful man she had ever known.

"Where's Michelle?" Tony asked hoping she had made it here, he knew she was probably falling apart, but knew she'd pull herself together and keep working, she was amazing.

"She's here"

"Could I talk to her please?"

"First things first Plachecki's coming over from the justice department to take your formal statement, you are entitled to have a lawyer present"

"Look I don't need a lawyer Brad" he said "I did what I did"

"_What you did_, Tony, is punishable by the death penalty" Brad said coldly.

"Death penalty" Tony repeated his words.

"You committed treason"

"That was not my intent"

"You facilitated the escape of a man who is responsible for the death of Ryan Chappelle and almost a thousand civilians, who was contemplating killing millions of others, then you tried to neutralize the only leverage we had over him by giving him back his daughter

"So what's the bottom line?"

"I will testify to the fact that your service record is long and for the most part distinguished" he said slowly "With luck…. The _best_ you can hope for is 20 years"

_(Later)_

They were going under…. her world was spinning so fast she couldn't find which ay was up, but she wasn't so out-of-it that she didn't recognize the fact that their investigation wasn't moving…they needed him in the bullpen and to be honest…she wasn't gonna be able to stand much longer without seeing him. She spun and headed down to holding "Hey Brian" she said to the guard as she walked in to the observation room and tried to enter the holding room. He put his arm out "I'm sorry Ms. Dessler, but I can't allow you in there"

"_Excuse_ me?" she stopped, not expecting this.

"I'm under orders from Hammond …you are denied access"

"I know you may not ever see it, but I'm his _wife_"

"I know" he said reluctantly "But I can't let you in"

This was ridiculous, she spun around and headed off to find Brad, he was in Tony's office, she climbed the stairs taking two a time and went inside "I just tried to see Tony" she said "Security said you are _denying_ me access?"

"He is a prisoner Michelle"

"I'm his wife, he did what he did to _save my life_"

"I am aware of that…. And because of that he's being charged with treason"

"_Treason? _Wha-" her heart dropped to the floor "Brad, look, I know he broke protocol by taking Jane Saunders out of CTU, but he would never have given her up, I mean he-"

"Mi_chelle_" he said sternly trying to stop her

"-but because of him we were able to catch Saunders" she finished.

He stood "We _had_ Saunders _two hours_ ago! And Tony let him escape!"

'No…he never could have…' her heart stuttered but she stayed silent.

"No one told you?" he said "We had Saunders trapped in a building downtown… we were ready to drop the net and Tony pulled units out of position so Saunders could get away"

She was speechless but she had to say something "Brad it was an impossible choice"

"_No_" he said sternly "It _wasn't_" he sat down "Tony has a sworn duty to protect the people of this country, putting your life first was treasonous… and he is going to prison for it"

"Brad-"

"I want you to put yourself in his place Michelle" he cut her off "If you would have made the same call you should resign right now"

_(Later)_

"Tony, did you put Michelle's life above public safety and national security?"

"Yes, I did"

_(Later)_

They lost Raebens…this had gone far enough, they needed Tony on the floor and they needed him _now_. Michelle headed toward the observation room, Brad was inside hammering information out of Tony. She picked up the phone and called him out.

"I need to step out" Hammond said and Tony heard the door open praying it was Michelle.

And there she was, his baby, she looked so flustered and her eyes were glued to him. Her eyes said 'I know what you've done and I can't believe it'

And his eyes answer 'You know I had to'

And she is forced to turn and talk to Hammond, "Brad, Raebens is gone, he got through the perimeter at the MTA station"

"How the hell did that happen?"

"Doesn't matter how it happened, it happened… we identified the vehicle he carjacked as a light blue Malibu, we set up a road block and uplinked traffic cams and satellite sweeps but I need Tony to coordinate the data flow between tactical and CTU" she took a breath "There's no down side here Brad, you know he's not a flight risk and he'd be a major asset to the operation"

"I could be brought up on charges if I let Tony-"

"We can't lose Raebens" she eyed him closely "So unless you wanna take responsibility and run tactical yourself…" he eyed her, she made him uneasy "you are wasting time Brad" Brad spun around and walked to the door.

"We need you on the floor" Brad said reluctantly and even though the glass was not see-through Tony looked straight at Michelle, he knew it had to be her.

_(15 minutes later)_

Michelle was examining the quarantine zones and coordinating protocols on those areas along with a few other people in the strategy room. She heard the door open behind her

And Tony walked in with two guards following him…this was it. The others watched knowingly.

"Could you give us a minute please?" Tony said and they nodded and walked out as Michelle walked closer to him.

"What's going on?" she said in a quiet shaky voice knowing what was coming, but hoping for something else.

"I'm back in custody" he said "Hammond's taking me down to federal"

"No" she shook her head "No they can't do this" she said struggling to keep her voice steady "not after everything you've accomplished today"

She knew better, he knew she was hiding from the truth, but he needed a moment with her, a _real_ moment, a moment when she wasn't hiding from the truth, he needed to really connect with her, just once more, because he didn't know when he'd see her again "Michelle" he said trying to be strong "I put your well-being above the country's, nothing I can do can change that fact"

"But they can't" she choked steadying herself "They can't put you in prison"

"Yes they can" he said trying to break through her walls "And they will for a long time" and he saw her walls begin to crumble. She looked away from him back and forth and he could see it rushing at her.

"Tony don't talk like this" her breath quickened "I can't-" she breathed and her voice cracked "I _won't_ give up on you"

His heart began to tear into pieces "Please Michelle don't do this" he whispered… he couldn't take this any longer, he didn't care that they were in CTU, he didn't care there was still a crisis going on, he didn't care that people were watching… she was hurting and he needed her. He reached out and took her face in his hand closing the gap between them.

"I can't-" she cried and he kissed her passionately holding her face tight to his as she did the same. He pushed her up against the wall behind her and supported her weight as he felt her go limp. They kissed each other deeply not being able to get deep enough into each other, but Tony knew they couldn't do this so he slowly pulled back and watched her eyes open reluctantly. In her eyes he saw vulnerability…sadness, desperation, desire, need and he wished he could take all those things away "Baby you're alive" he said in a shaky voice "and nobody else got hurt because of what I did and that's more than I hoped for… I can live with that" he said "Even in prison"

_And nobody knows what's gonna happen tomorrow  
We try not to show how frightened we are  
It would seem lonely - if you were the only - star in the night?  
You've got to believe it'll be alright in the end  
You've got to believe it'll be alright again_

24~24~24~SEASON 3 ENDS~24~24~24


	101. Chapter 101 Fallin Down

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

~ Chapter 101 ~

"Almeida" Tony looked up when he heard his name. He had been sitting in the same spot staring at the same wall for almost three hours and he felt so alone and numb "You have a visitor… you have five minutes"

He saw her face and a warm feeling washed over him as she rushed into his arms "Oh Sweetheart" he said in a hushed voice "Baby" he kissed the side of her face "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't do it… I couldn't go home without you" she said as tears began to spill out of her eyes.

"Shhh" he said pulling her close as she cried into his chest.

"The thought of entering that empty house and being there while you are here…"

"I'm so sorry honey" he apologized.

"For what?" she stopped.

"I'm sorry for keeping the plan from you, for letting you go to the hotel… I'm sorry that you are in pain… every single decision I made was for you and I wound up hurting you anyway-"

"Tony don't-" she said "Don't talk like that we are gonna make it through this"

He kissed her. Her words were everything he needed to hear and he wished he could just hold onto her forever, because honestly… as long as she was right next to him, he didn't care where he was.

"Times up and you have a phone call"

"Baby I'm gonna miss you so much" he said quickly looking into her eyes "I'm gonna miss you every minute of every day"

"No Tony, I can't go home… not without you"

"You have to Sweetheart,_ please_… for me" he said holding her face "Ok? Promise?"

She nodded reluctantly as she tried to calm herself and he brushed away her tears with his thumbs "Kay"

"Let's go" the guard said taking Tony's arm.

Michelle pulled his face toward hers and kissed him passionately "I love you"

"I love you too baby" he said as they pulled him away.

She hurried out of the building, she knew she looked like a mess and if she couldn't be with Tony she didn't want to be with anyone at all. She ran to the car and once she got it she just sat there. She felt like she didn't even have the energy to start the car. She really didn't feel as though she had anything to live for, everything she loved had just been dragged away from her.

But she had promised him, so she would go home.

_(Meanwhile)_

"What the hell is going _on _Tony?" his mother cried through the phone.

"It's a long story mom, I really can't go into it," he said getting annoyed at all his mother's questions. He knew she was upset and worried, but he had already told her many times that he couldn't explain. There was so much going on. It was like the world was spinning around him at the speed of light and he was moving in slow motion. He couldn't keep up. It was overwhelming, he didn't have the energy to answer questions, be yelled at and fight… he just needed Michelle. When she was with him, he could breathe and the world slowed back down to normal, but when she was gone he was dizzy and felt like he would pass out from everything around him.

His mother continued to freak out in his ear "Tony? Tony! Where's Michelle? I'm so afraid!"

"Mom I gotta go, it'll be fine, just relax and _stay home,_" he said hanging up.

Sometimes I don't wanna wake up alone  
But sometimes I wanna wake up and be on my own  
Sometimes I don't want to walk by and smile  
But at the same time I don't wanna let people down

Its gettin heavy I think I'm bout ready to break down  
I'm standin up, but I'm fallin down  
Time keeps on tickin I wish there was a way to slow it down  
Some one pick me up, cause I'm fallin down  
fallin down, down, down, down  
fallin down, down, down, down

"When am I gonna be able to see my wife?" Tony asked the guard.

"That should be the least of your worries," he barked.

"I want to see her!" Tony pleaded.

"You don't have the right to want anything from us…traitor!"

"But-" he started.

The guard whipped around and smashed Tony's fingers, which were wrapped around the bars "But NOTHING! Go to bed! Now! Or I'll see to it that you don't see her for a month!"

Why is it so easy for you to blame  
I'm only human were all the same  
I've given up everything in exchange for being alone  
Shakin these demons underneath all my pride, Nooo

He dropped down onto his cot and rolled over facing the wall. He closed his eyes.

A dark figure appeared on the other side of the gray street in the cold pouring rain. Lightning flashed and the figure was so close Tony could see him. His face flashed. Stephen Saunders. A roar of thunder

"You know what I'm capable of"

A street light to his left flickered to life. Under it Michelle squirmed and kicked in the arms of a man with a gun to her head.

Tony reached for her but his feet felt like lead, they wouldn't move. He looked down. He had prison shackles around his ankles that disappeared into the concrete of the street. "Michelle!" he struggled to reach her until the other half of the street to his right lit up.

The Chandler Plaza Hotel lit up and towered high over him. In the windows he could see all his family and friends looking down at him. Blood began to gush from their noses. His mother cried his name, children screamed in agony, his friends called him pleading for him to help. All their cries and pleading became loud until he heard a small voice.

"I love you Tony," her sweet innocent voice echoed in his head.

"Michelle" he cried on his knees.

Can you imagine the weight of the world  
Placed on your shoulders, trapped in this world  
And no one can reach you, Ooo  
So no one can help you, now

Its getting' heavy I think I'm bout' ready to breakdown  
I'm standin up, but I'm fallin down  
Time keeps on tickin I wish there was a way to slow it down  
Some one pick me up, cause I'm fallin down

Michelle pulled Tony's SUV into the garage. It was so quiet without him already. As she sat in his car she could still smell his cologne from that morning. She turned the truck off and sat there in the garage in silence. She looked down at the small bag on the floor and suddenly felt a fresh pang of pain. She squeezed her eyes closed as she felt more tears coming.

She opened her eyes as a tear escaped and reached down for the bag. She put it in her lap and slowly pulled the small box inside out of the bag. She stared down at the pregnancy test and began to cry.

After a minute she suddenly heard a click and the door to the house opened and Gina and Bella appeared. "Michelle are you okay?" they said rushing over to the car.

Michelle had not expected them to be here and she loved them but she wished they would just leave... she had been strong all day... strong for CTU when Tony got shot, strong for Tony while he was in surgery, strong as she watched her friend die, strong when she was kidnapped, strong through the absolute WORST day ever... even when she was supposed to be dying a horrible death from a virus, even when a knife was threatening to cut her eye out, even as they ripped the love of her life out of her arms to take him away to jail. She didn't have any energy left to be strong... she needed to fall apart... she needed to stop being strong... she needed the world stop spinning and just leave her alone so she could breathe... she needed Tony.

Gina opened the door to the SUV "What are you doing?"

Michelle closed her eyes and shook her head as she felt more tears coming. Gina looked down and picked up what was in Michelle's lap "Oh my God... a pregnancy test? Your pregnant?"

Michelle's words were barely audible "I don't know"

"You should take it" Bella said.

Michelle shook her head "I can't even wrap my head around what this test means… if he's not here with me… I just… I can't….I…" she threw her head back in frustration "God! I can't even speak" she cried.

Gina took her hand helping her out of the car "You don't have to take it until you're ready"

"Michelle" Bella said starting to lose it "Michelle what the hell is going on" she cried "I saw him on TV… they say he's a terrorist… people are dead… children…. _WHAT_ is going on!"

Michelle just shook her head. She couldn't believe it was already on the news. She wasn't surprised at the story… the news never got the story straight… it would change over the next few days. "Tony's not a terrorist right?"

Michelle's jaw dropped in horror "How could you say that?" she whispered shaking her head in disgust "He's your brother…"

Gina began to cry "I don't know _what_ to think anymore Michelle"

"_Please _just tell us what happened!" Bella cried.

And again… Michelle had to drop all her feelings and needs to be strong for someone else…

"Come inside" Michelle said leading them inside. As Michelle stepped into the house Garren ran up and jumped up on her putting his paws on her shoulders. She hugged him remembering what Tony said about Garren being the piece of him always with her to protect her. She fought tears and let the dog go. She walked toward the living room and caught a glance of herself in a mirror. She looked like hell. She heard a noise and looked up. The news was on the TV, "Turn that television OFF!" she turned heading toward the bathroom.

"Aren't you gonna tell us?" Bella said following her.

"TURN _OFF_ THE TV" she calmed herself "and sit down in the living room… I'll be right there…. I need a minute"

Michelle appeared in the door ten minutes later. Her make-up was completely gone and she was in sweatpants and a tank top. She entered silently and sat on the coffee table handing Bella the box of tissues. "Today… has been the absolute worst day of me and Tony's life… I'm gonna warn you this is gonna be very hard to hear… so are you sure you are ready to hear it?"

"I need to know" Bella insisted.

Gina nodded "Not knowing is worse"

Michelle wasn't sure that was true. "Ok" she said rubbing her forehead trying to think of how to tell the story, certain things needed to be left out. "Tony has been working with-"

"Oh God!" Bella cried.

Michelle's eyes shot up "Do _not _do that!" she warned "This was hard enough to _live_ through, the last thing I want to do is go through it all again but I'm doing it for _you_, so please _listen_ and try to stay calm… I'm gonna keep this short for now" Michelle decided to just tell them what they needed to know for now.

"Tony has been working with a few of our colleagues at CTU in secret for the past month on an operation to happen underneath the government's radar to save lives. The virus you've seen all over the news killing people is what they were trying to stop… no one knew about it but them… and they were trying to stop it before it ever reached the wrong hands…" she took a breath "Some things went wrong and a terrorist got the virus and released it as you've seen… Tony was trying to _save_ lives, what happened was out of his control"

"That's it?" Bella asked.

"Wait then why is he in jail?" Gina asked "He was innocent… he was never working with the terrorists, he was trying to stop them"

This was going to be harder than Michelle thought… tears began to form in her eyes but she did her best to blink them away. "Uh" she paused rubbing her face. "It gets a little more complicated," she explained, "As we were in the process of capturing the man that was releasing this virus… I was kidnapped"

Gina gasped "By the guy?"

"Yea" Michelle nodded "He used me as leverage against Tony"

"What exactly was he threatening to do?" Bella asked.

Michelle looked away "He umm..." she paused at the horrifying memory.

"Just say it"

Michelle stared her straight in the eyes "He sent Tony a live video feed of me as he threatened to cut my eye out, slit my throat, and kill me. Ok?" she stopped herself and took another deep breath.

Bella and Gina cringed as a fresh round of crying began.

Gina spoke "So what did the guy want Tony to do?"

"Help him escape from the police who were about to catch him"

"So he could keep killing people?" Gina asked.

Michelle nodded and Bella looked up "So _your_ life or _…everyone else's_?"

Michelle dropped her head into her hands Gina thought and spoke again "But didn't he know he would get fired and they would send him to jail for life?"

"He had to know" Bella said.

"Did he do it?" Gina asked and they both stared at Michelle "He chose you?"

Michelle looked up at them with tears in her eyes "Yes"

They sat in silence for several minutes.

"The bandage on his neck" Bella said slightly dazed "I saw it on… on the TV he had a bandage on his neck, it… it looked pretty bad…" her eyes slowly rose to meet Michelle's.

Michelle dropped her head back into her hands "He was shot"

"My GOD!" Bella screeched, "He was shot in the _neck_?"

"Yes… but we got lucky and the surgery went well" Michelle said remembering watching the surgery from her desk at CTU.

"Why didn't you call us?" Bella asked.

"We were in the middle of a crisis, there was no time"

"What do you mean? Weren't you at the hospital?" she asked incredulously.

"No… I wasn't" Michelle said with regret "With Tony gone and Jack out CTU couldn't lose me… they couldn't afford to lose both of us… I wanted so much to be with him but-"

"But you chose to stay at work" Bella finished.

"Mom-" Gina said.

Michelle stiffened up "BUT" she raised her voice "I wasn't given the LUXURY of a choice in this case" she retorted "and I was _right_ there for him when he woke up from surgery"

"Is that all of it?" Bella asked coolly.

"That's enough" Michelle said standing up and heading upstairs.

Fifteen minutes later Michelle was lying in their bed wishing with all that she had that Tony was next to her. She heard a light knocking on the door. She looked up "Come in"

Gina appeared slowly "Hey"

Michelle replied softly "Hey"

Gina slowly made her way over and sat on the bed "Mom didn't mean those things she said… she's just upset and doesn't know who to blame and-"

"She's not the only one" Michelle said simply.

"She can be selfish sometimes," Gina explained.

"I'm not mad at her," Michelle said.

"Ok, good" Gina sighed "Anyway I'm gonna take her home"

Michelle nodded and Gina leaned over and hugged her then left.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Almeida" the guard snapped "Strip"

Tony sighed, this wasn't foreign to him, he had been in the marines, but he didn't like the tone the guards were giving him. No one understood what _really_ happened and he could only imagine what the media was telling everyone, they never got the story straight. They tossed him clothes and he reluctantly put them on. He sat back down on the cot and sighed remembering that this horrible day just may last him 40 years… or maybe the rest of his life.

_(3 hours later)_

Michelle was lying on her side all the way on the side of the bed closest to bathroom when she heard a light knock on the door. She sat up and slowly pulled her gun from the nightstand. "Come in" she said.

Gina walked in and her hands shot up in the air at the sight of the gun "Michelle?" she said scared for her life.

Michelle sighed and put the gun down "Oh Gina thank god" she put the gun back in the drawer.

Gina was breathing quickly "Holy shit you scared me"

"Sorry… after today I don't know who is gonna be knocking on the door" Michelle said.

Gina walked up to the bed "I didn't think you should be alone, mind if I stay here with you?"

Michelle nodded "Ok" she patted the other side of the bed.

Gina walked slowly to the other side and crawled up "Is this Tony's side of the bed?"

"Uh, no… we don't really have sides… we're usually just all tangled back and forth in the center… I'm just on this side cuz its closer to the bathroom and I've been sick a few times"

"You're still sick?" Gina asked pulling the covers over her.

"I don't know what it is" Michelle sighed, "It could be because I'm upset… maybe I'm sick…maybe… I don't know"

"So you didn't take the test yet?"

"I can't even look at it"

"Oh…so… what are we watching?" Gina said looking up at the flat screen TV on the wall.

"I have no idea… I've been watching it for hours but I can't tell you one damn thing about it" she sighed.

"What are you thinking?" Gina asked.

"That clock over there"

"The one on the wall?" she asked.

"It was a Tuesday… we got that clock on a Tuesday" she said simply "We both had the night off so we went to the mall… I liked it cuz I liked the ticking sound it makes… it sounds different from other clocks… and I liked it… so he bought it for me, funny thing is… I never really stopped to listen to it… til now"

Gina listened for the ticking; it did sound different "It's nice"

…

"Say hello to my little friend!" BOOM

Tony chuckled "I love it when he says that" he looked over at his girlfriend who had clearly tried to stay awake and failed. He smiled and poked her pointing his finger like a gun "Say hello to my little friend" he joked.

Michelle opened one eye and took his finger and brought it to her mouth as though she was going to bite it.

"Take it easy killer" he smiled pulling their hands back his way so he could kiss her hand "Someone's tired and cranky"

"I'm sorry" she said giving him a weak smile "I tried" she said closing her eyes again.

"It's ok, we can call it a night" he said kissing her and getting up off the couch.

Her eyes shot open "Where are you going?" she said half asleep with worry.

"I'm coming right back" he smiled "I'm just gonna go get something"'

"You're staying over right?" she asked quietly.

He sat back down next to her "Of course I am"

He walked back into the room a minute later with some pillows "See" he said layinig down next to her and pulling her close "I'm right here, not going anywhere"

She smiled "I never wanna wake up with you not next to me"

He kissed her and held her face "That will _never_ happen"

…

Michelle was silent. Gina looked over at her. She was still staring blankly at the clock as a tear ran down her cheek. A few seconds later she was running toward the bathroom.


	102. Chapter 102 My Sacrifice

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Creed_)

~ Chapter 102 ~

…

'_Pregnant' the little white stick flashed at her_

_She spun around and suddenly was in a crowded courtroom with cameras flashing and a booming voice announced "Anthony Marcus Almeida I hereby sentence you to the death penalty"_

"_Mommy?" a small little boy with big brown eyes and curly hair said tugging at her skirt as they stood in line at the store "Where's my Daddy?"_

…

She sat up sweating with tears rolling down her face and she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. As she sat on the floor she heard a light knock at the door "Michelle?" Gina called quietly "Can I come in?" Gina said staring at the door.

"I'm fine, I just had a bad dream" Michelle said breathlessly.

"Please let me in Michelle" she insisted softly.

"Ok" Michelle responded.

Gina walked in and gave her a small smile sitting next to her "Can you tell me what happened?"

"It was nothing, just a bad dream" Michelle said wiping the small amount of sweat on her forehead.

"Sounded like a nightmare" Gina said rubbing her shoulder.

"My life is a nightmare"

Gina had nothing to say, those words were true, so she just sat there next to Michelle.

"The pregnancy test came back positive and they sentenced him to death… in my dream"

"You're obviously afraid of what Tony's punishment might be, that's totally understandable, but I didn't know you were afraid of being pregnant"

"I don't wanna have a baby without him… I can't do it alone, I wouldn't wanna"

"Look, what happens to Tony is out of your hands… but this… she said pointing to her stomach, this you can deal with _right_ now" Gina stood up and got the test out of the drawer "I know it's scary, but isn't it better to know what you are up against?"

Michelle thought for a minute and then took it from her and held it silently. She then looked up "Can I have a few minutes alone?"

"Of course you can" Gina said smiling and walking out.

Michelle stared at the test, she really needed Tony. 'What would Tony do if he were here?' she asked herself, she knew he would make her feel better either way so she decided to think about the good things of each outcome. If she wasn't pregnant she wouldn't have to worry about raising a child without him and if she was pregnant, she would always have someone to keep her company, to love, even if Tony were gone… she held back tears and pulled the test out of the box.

She took the test and waited watching the screen… she found herself hoping it was negative

How could this have happened? Yesterday she would have given anything for this test to come up positive, but now she was crossing her fingers for it to be negative, how had she changed so much in just 24 hours? She felt like she didn't even know who she was or what she wanted anymore… the one person that made her who she was and kept her world spinning now felt so far away and this left her feeling like she had lost herself, this reminded her of the last time they had gone to visit his grandmother

_He nodded with a smile and walked out of the room and Michelle sat down "I can see why he chose you" Abuela smiled "You speak his language, read his mind, strong, you're smart, beautiful, you've got your act together… you're a catch" Michelle blushed "You're wonderful"_

"_No" she shook her head and looked down at her hands "I wasn't… he didn't choose me because I was smart, pretty or well put-together, because I wasn't any of those things… we weren't always this in sync, the day we decided to start dating we spent most of the day mis-understanding each other and fighting… that day he didn't choose me because I was beautiful because I wasn't, I was a mess, hair all over the place," everyone laughed "dirty, torn clothes… maybe he hit his head or something" they laughed harder and she continued "he didn't choose me because I was strong… in those days physically I was a mess… gunshot wound to the arm, broken wrist and emotionally, between my family and my ex, I was one step away from a nervous breakdown… composed is not a word you could use to describe me… he chose me when I was stubborn, hurt, weak, broken and just a mess in every way… all these 'wonderful' things you can say about me now are because of him"_

_(The next morning)_

When Gina awoke Michelle was gone. She rubbed her eyes and looked around "Michelle?" she called climbing out of bed. She wasn't in the bathroom, Gina turned and headed downstairs. She wasn't sure if Michelle had gone for a run or went out so she checked the garage, both cars were still there, but she stopped when she saw Michelle sitting in the Denali. She sighed and walked over and got into the passenger seat.

She got in and closed the door but Michelle didn't even acknowledge her. "Going somewhere?"

"Thought I'd go to work"

"They really expect you in today, after what happened yesterday?"

"Probably not" Michelle said blankly "But I was gonna go…but this is as far as I got"

"You could go visit Tony"

"I already did" she said quietly "Early this morning for as long as they would allow me"

"Did you tell him about the test?" Gina asked.

…

"_Michelle Dessler" The guard called and Michelle jumped to her feet. As she walked across the recreation area she heard taunts, whistles and calls from other inmates… she wished they would leave her alone, and she could only imagine how much this was killing Tony. Did these people have no souls? If those men knew who she and Tony were, what they had been through and what was about to be taken away from them… maybe they'd back off… it didn't matter… all that mattered was that the next 15 minutes spent in a cold, smelly room would be the highlight of her day._

"_Sweetheart" he said with relief pulling her into his embrace._

_She let out a huge breath she had not realized she had been holding and for a few seconds she closed her eyes and being in his arms lifted the unbearable weight off her heart and allowed her to breathe. They stood there silently taking each other in, locked in a tight embrace. He kissed the side of her neck and whispered in her ear "You look exhausted, tough night?" she nodded silently and he kissed her again "Nightmares?" he guessed knowingly and again she nodded so he sat down with her and pulled his face just far enough from her so he could look into her eyes "What happened?"_

_How was that this man was so perfect, he was the one who was in filthy clothes spending his days getting screamed at and his nights in a hard, cold, lonely cell, yet he was more worried about her bad dreams, no one deserved this man, especially not her, he was too perfect._

_He noticed her silence and mistook it for hesitation "Come on 'chelle you can tell me" he said tucking a stray hair behind her hair and holding her face._

"_I had bad dreams about what might happen in court…" she said_

"_And?" he said knowing there was more._

"_And… our child growing up and never knowing his father"_

_A smile spread across his face and she felt her heart drop to the floor, she hadn't seen that gorgeous smile in what felt like forever._

"_You're pregnant?" he smiled gently touching her abdomen._

_She broke into tears, this was too much for her. She didn't know what to say… he deserved happiness more than anyone and she couldn't bring herself to take that from him. This moment of happiness was all he had and she couldn't stop it and crush him._

"_Time's up" the guard said pulling Tony's arm._

"_No… Tony no… I'm not-" she tried to take it back_

"_It's gonna be ok baby" he said with hope in his eyes as they pulled him away._

…

_Hello my friend, we meet again  
It's been awhile, where should we begin?  
Feels like forever  
Within my heart are memories  
Of perfect love that you gave to me  
Oh, I remember_

We've seen our share of ups and downs  
Oh how quickly life can turn around  
In an instant  
It feels so good to reunite  
Within yourself and within your mind  
Let's find peace there

When you are with me I'm free  
I'm careless, I believe  
Above all the others we'll fly  
This brings tears to my eyes  
Cause when you are with me I am free  
I'm careless, I believe  
Above all the others we'll fly  
This brings tears to my eyes  
My sacrifice

"Did you tell him Michelle?" Gina asked again. A tear ran down Michelle's cheek and Gina knew something had gone wrong "What happened?"

"He thinks I'm pregnant"

_(Later)_

"How long has she been up there?"

"Two hours" Chloe answered "And I checked the logs, she hasn't done a single thing"

"I don't know what to say to her" Jack said "This is the part of this job I hate, it tears families and relationships apart… even the most perfect ones" he said heading up the stairs. He knocked on the door and she snapped out of her daze and nodded. He entered quietly and stood for a second, he could ask how she was doing but it was pointless, he knew the answer "I just talked to Tony… what's going on legally?"

"His court date is next week" she said with a blank expression "For now I'm allowed to visit"

"Tony told me you got him a lawyer?" Jack asked.

"The best money could buy" she said simply as if money mattered.

He nodded then looked back at her "You sleep at all last night?" he asked gently.

"Only long enough to have a nightmare"

"When's the last time you ate?" he asked.

"I have no idea" she said realizing she hadn't had anything since the coffee with Tony two mornings ago.

"Let's get you something to eat" Jack said.

"I'm not hungry"

"Michelle you have to eat… especially with-" he stopped when her eyes shot up at him with what looked like pure fear and confusion "Tony told me about the pregnancy" he explained.

Her face fell into her hands and she began crying.

"Michelle, I'm sorry... did I say something to upset you?" Jack said moving closer to her and darkening the windows "Michelle talk to me" he said putting his hand over hers. She pulled her head up and stared at his hand over hers. He slowly removed it and looked up at her "What's going on Michelle?" he asked.

She tried to keep her composure but it slipped as she said "I'm not pregnant Jack"

"Ok" he said quickly "Hey, it's ok"

She shook her head and sat up straight "No it is _not_ ok!" she said as her makeup began to run "My _husband_ who has never done anything, but love and protect me… is sitting in _prison_ where he will probably stay for the rest of his life… and the _only_ joy left in his life is a lie" she stopped and covered her face for a second "I was telling him about my nightmare and he completely misunderstood me… he was so excited… how could I take that from him? The only thing he has to smile about and I'm supposed to walk into that prison and tell him it doesn't exist? How _could_ I?" as she tried to catch her breath the room began spinning and everything went dark.

_(Later)_

She fought to pull her eyelids open. When she realized what happened she tried to sit up.

"Whoah take it easy" Jack said "You collapsed yesterday… just lay back"

"What time is it?" she asked looking around frantically for a clock in the CTU medical room.

"6AM" Jack answered.

"I need to get to the prison… I visit every morning… I can only go once a day" she said trying to sit up again.

"You can't Michelle" he said taking her should to try and steady her.

She felt extremely weak and had no power against him "Jack I need to see him"

"I know, I know but you need to stay in bed you are too weak"

"Jack its only fifteen minutes… It's all they will give me… I need it, please"

Jack sympathized, he knew he'd do anything for 15 minutes with Teri so he decided to help her "If I take you, do you promise to eat and rest afterward?"

"Yes I promise, anything"

Twenty minutes later Jack helped Michelle out of the SUV and assisted her into the prison, once they were inside Michelle stopped walking "Ok, I gotta do this by myself… I don't want him to know I collapsed, I don't want him to worry"

Jack let her go and watched her follow the guard.

"Michelle" Tony said looking up and walking over to her, hugging her.

She sunk into his arms, loving the feeling of his warmth around her, she wished she could stay that way forever.

"Baby you're shaking… and you are ice cold, are you ok?" he said feeling her forehead "You feel like you have a fever… have you been eating enough?"

"I think I'm just sick" she said.

"Honey you need to rest… seriously" he said holding her close.

"I know, I know, I promise I'm going straight home to rest after this"

"Please baby, take care of yourself… and not just for me" he smiled as his stare dropped her stomach "Do it for…" he smiled and hesitated "Jacob"

Her heart was in shreds "What? No Tony-"

"I just thought… after my father" he said.

Could this really be happening? He wanted to name their baby after his father. What could she possibly say? She decided she would take another pregnancy test… maybe the first was wrong… this seemed way too terrible to be true… all she wanted was to wake up from this awful nightmare already.

"Baby what if it doesn't happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"The pregnancy" she said gently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't wanna jinx us by naming him… I just… I did it for me… the thought of you having a little version of me in there… someone who will love you and take care of you and bring you joy even if I can't… it's the only thing keeping me sane Michelle"

"I know I'm just worried the test was wrong, you know they are not completely accurate and-"

"Baby stop worrying, we've been seeing the signs for weeks and those tests have become very accurate, stop doubting yourself, it's gonna be ok" he said laying his hand on her stomach "We are _all_ gonna be ok"


	103. Chapter 103 Every Step You Take

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _The Sting_)

~ Chapter 103 ~

"I don't know what you want me to say" Chloe said indignantly.

"Just answer the question Ms. O'Brien, we do not have an agenda, we just want the truth"

"Can you repeat the question please?" she said rolling her eyes.

"Did Director Tony Almeida hold you hostage in the tech room while he kidnapped Jane Saunders? Yes or no?"

"I cannot be held accountable for what was happening outside a room I was in, you can't ask me that cuz there's no way I could have known what was going on outside the room" Chloe said.

Behind the glass Michelle knew she was dodging the question to protect Tony and while it was reassuring she could see what Justice Department was trying to do. "Ms O'Brien" the representative said "The mention of Jane Saunder's kidnapping was merely a reference to the time of which we are speaking, I'm sorry if it distracted you from the question… did Tony Almeida hold you hostage yes or no?"

"He assigned me to that room and was ensuring I stay there, since when is that holding someone hostage?"

"How about we take a break" she said and Michelle left, heading out to the bullpen.

"Michelle the site was clean" A man said walking up to Michelle in the bullpen.

She looked at the report and handed it back "Bring the teams back, thank you" she said turning around to see Jack standing there.

"Ready for the meeting?"

Michelle nodded "Of course" she said following him to the conference room trying to remember what the meeting was for as her phone vibrated in her pocket, she knew it was the lawyer, but it would have to wait.

"Nice of you to join us" Hammond said as they sat down "Today we are all here to discuss appointment of the new Special Director of CTU Los Angeles" he said staring straight at Michelle who glance dup his old office and then to Brad "After much consideration by the board it has been decided that Jack Bauer will take the position effective immediately"

"Michelle we were hoping to appoint you to this position but…" he began saying, but Michelle was too busy watching something that had caught her eye, there was a woman up in Tony's office putting his things into a box. Her eyes narrowed as she saw what the woman was doing.

"Will you please excuse me?" she said standing up and heading up to the office taking two steps at a time.

Below her Kim and Adam stood watching "Uh oh, watch out Michelle looks like she's about to rip someone's head off" they followed her eyes up the stairs and saw exactly where she was going "Whoever is up there must not know Michelle, because anyone who knows her wouldn't _dare_ set foot into that office"

"This is not gonna be good" Adam mumbled.

Michelle pushed the door open "_Excuse_ me" she said.

The woman looked up, she had never met Michelle but she been watching the news and recognized her "I'm sorry you can't be here"

"I'm sorry, you _must_ be confused… YOU can't be here"

"I was told by-"

"I don't care if the order came straight from the president himself, by the way, I know for a fact it didn't, but regardless you will leave _right now_" Michelle said stepping closer to her which obviously made her uncomfortable "What you are doing is a violation of privacy"

"Criminals have no right to privacy"

"Tony Almeida is an innocent man to whom you owe your _life_" Michelle yelled "So you will put those things down and leave this office _right now_ or I will _personally remove you_ and by this time next week you will be in the unemployment line…_standing_ if you're lucky"

The woman swallowed hard avoid Michelle penetrating stare "My boss said-" she stammered.

"Get _out!_" she said pointing to the door. The woman hesitated and Michelle took another step so face was inches from the woman's "You think I'm playing games with you?"

The girl turned pale and hurried out of the office. Michelle sighed and put her hand on the desk to steady herself as a wave of emotion hit her and she forced it back down. She took another deep breath and headed back down to the meeting.

"What was that?" Hammond asked with arms across his chest as she sat back down.

"I don't know who sent her, but she has no right to be in that office"

"I sent her to collect Tony's belongings"

"And it never occurred to you that _I_ would be a much more appropriate choice for that particular task?"

"No you should be busy doing other things and their shouldn't be anything so personal in there that only his wife can see… it's his office not his bedroom"

"I will clear his office, I'm sure Jack is fine with that" Michelle said.

"I am more than fine with that, in fact I'd like Michelle to keep that office, I already have an office I am settled into" Jack said with a small smile.

Brad did not like being outnumbered "What_ever_, I don't care, but I want all of Tony's stuff out within the next hour" he said standing up "We will continue this briefing when Ray arrives," he stopped and turned around looking down at Michelle "In the meantime, Michelle would you make some coffee? Thanks" he smiled walking out.

Michelle felt her stomach drop and her eyes filled with tears but she forced them away.

"How did he find out about the coffee thing?" Jack said quietly after Hammond left.

"I have no idea" Michelle said trying desperately not to cry.

_(Later)_

Michelle pulled into the garage and sat for a moment in silence after turning off the car. She sighed, lately the silence in this house had been suffocating and it was torture because every day at work she couldn't wait to go home and every night at home she couldn't wait to go to work… she was never satisfied, she never felt content anymore… she couldn't wait for the day to end yet she dreaded the coming of the next day, she was stuck.

She could hear Garren howling and barking excitedly so she dragged herself out of the car and into the house. She turned to walk into the living room and felt as though she had just been struck by lightning when she saw a man standing there.

She stumbled backward and let out a yelp, then realized it was her father. "Oh my God! Dad… you scared me" she said frantically.

"Hey sweetie I'm sorry, you just had me so worried…" he began. She had her hand over her forehead and for some reason could not seem to catch her breath. She felt like the ground was sliding around below her and she quickly sunk into the nearest kitchen chair "Chellie are you okay?" she heard him ask but he sounded so far away "Mi- Michelle!" he said when he felt that she felt ice cold and was sweating "Here, here" she heard as she felt cool water slip down her throat. She room which had been spinning began to slow down "When's the last time you've eaten?"

"I- I don't know" she said between shallow breaths.

Twenty minutes later she was feeling much better "You scared me there" her father said "Your lucky I was here, I cannot believe you haven't eaten in almost a week"

"I've been so busy…" she said knowing it was a lame excuse that was far from the truth. The truth was she laid in her bed, most of the time crying, from the time she got home until some time in the early morning when she couldn't stand it anymore so she went to work.

"I don't care, you need to take better care of yourself… I know Tony's not here but" he saw a flash of heartbreak in her eyes "I'm sorry"

"It's the last thing I want to talk about… or even think about right now"

"All I meant to say is… well… you have to take good care of yourself, and look if you want me to move in cuz you need some help-"

"No dad, it's really okay… I'm never home anyway" she said quickly.

He sat down across from her and took her hand, she jumped slightly at this, she was only used to Tony holding her hands and he hadn't held her hands in what felt like forever so it caught her off guard "Chellie I worry about you honey… I know how upset you must be about all of this and you live here all alone, never answer my phone calls or talk to me about what's going on… So… do you wanna talk?"

Michelle had tears in her eyes as she shook her head 'no'

"I really wish you would talk to me honey" he said patting her hands "Mind if I stay the night? Just in case you change your mind?"

"Okay" she said softly sniffing "I'm gonna go get changed" she said lifting herself out of the chair and going upstairs. When she came back down she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water.

He noticed her fuzzy slippers and smiled "Comfy?"

She turned around "You have any clothes with you?"

"Uh no, it's ok" he said.

"Here, come upstairs we have plenty of extra in the guest room" she said leading him up to the room. She opened the dresser drawer but didn't see anything that would fit him. She opened the closet and pushed the extra blankets aside to find a white box that took her breath away.

When she stopped her father looked over and slowly approached her to find out what she was staring at "Something wrong?" he asked.

Michelle sunk to her knees as tears rolled down her cheeks. She pulled the box close to her and opened it. It was their wedding box, with the photo album and videos she had been looking for. The cover of the photo album was blue and said "Tony and Michelle Almeida August 12th" Of course she would find this the night before their anniversary.

"Don't do this to yourself" her father said soflty.

"Tomorrow's our second anniversary" She stood up taking the box and heading to the study. She sat down on the leather couch and put the DVD into the player and watched the TV screen. She remembered Tony promising her that they'd watch the video together. A collection of pictures flashed of Tony and Michelle growing up, followed by some of them during the days they were dating and engaged.

A video of Allison at the wedding came up "Yea from the second she started talking about him I could tell she was really in love," a picture of Tony and Michelle on the beach with ice cream flashed up as she continued "she just gets this twinkle in her eye and you can tell that there's one she'd rather think about"

Next a video of Pete come up "Yea, Tony's always had pretty bad luck with women, but I guess this time he hit the jackpot, cuz I've never seen him this happy" a picture of Tony with a huge smile on his face and his arms wrapped around Michelle at a cubs game came up.

"They're so cute together" Gina said "They always roll their eyes when I say things like that, but whatever, its clearly true" she laughed "To be honest, they've really shown me that love is not just a fairytale and that happily ever after _does_ actually exist, cuz there's no doubt in my mind these two will be nothing but happy together"

Michelle was sobbing by this point but she kept watching as the video flashed through different parts of the wedding.

Michelle tossed the garter and a group of women jumped up. "Got it!" Gina laughed and smiled.

Then it flashed to Tony and Michelle at the altar holding hands as Tony finished his vows "Michelle, throughout my life I've always felt restless. I've always felt like I'm working toward happiness… reaching for my dreams, but never truly getting there, but right now standing here with you I feel still, because I no longer have to search or work for happiness… right here, right now, this day, _all my dreams are coming true_ and I realize now that I could never be more happy then I am when I'm with you… no matter where we are… whether it's on the beach, at home, at work or _making coffee_" he smiled as a few people in the congregation laughed at the inside joke "All I know is no matter where I am, I want you by my side forever, and there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you-" she shut it off as she felt as though she was going to be sick from crying so much. She laid down on the couch and let her tears roll onto the cool leather of the seat. She wondered how she would survive this without him and how he was surviving. She watched the clock and wondered what he was doing. She felt herself drift then opened her eyes and looked over at the clock.

12:56AM

1:14AM

1:20AM

Michelle pushed open the door to the guest room where her father slept "Dad" she said.

He sat up quickly "Whatsamatter?" he said rubbing his eyes and squinting at her.

She sat on the bed next to him "Dad, what's it like in prison?" she asked quietly. She wanted to know what Tony was going through.

High sighed and thought for a second, he wanted to sugar-coat it for her, but she was way too intelligent so he told her the truth "It's lonely… you do work… wake up early… spend some time outside… at least where I went… I'm not sure what federal prison is like though… I would think you'd know more since that's more in your line of work… I would think you've seen a lot of people in federal prison"

An idea struck Michelle "I have to go see something" she said hurrying back to the study. She remembered that not only did they get OR feeds and school and police office feeds, they also got prison feeds. She opened the CTU feeds, but he feeds only showed common area like the yard and entrance.

_Since you've gone I been lost without a trace  
I dream at night I can only see your face  
I look around but it's you I can't replace  
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace  
I keep crying baby, baby please_

"Michelle" she heard her Dad behind her.

She exited out of what she was doing and turned to him "Hey" she said quietly.

"I hate what is happening honey… it all makes me feel helpless… because there is no easy answer or good solution and it's not gonna be easy, but I have to be honest…" he sighed "Being in jail is sorta like being in another world, it's so isolated that you can't imagine life outside after awhile… my point is… everything's different in there and because of that… well… it changes you"

"Not Tony" she said stubbornly.

"Maybe… but don't you remember what I was like?"

"Not Tony… he won't change" she said as sadness crept into her voice.

"Honey I don't want to upset you… just warn you so you can be prepared" he said softly.

"Stop talking like this" she began to cry.

"You asked and I just wanted to be honest with you" he said afraid to touch her.

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore, Tony is not going anywhere" She said clinging to the memories of the wonderful man she loved

…

"Hey you" he smiled as she stuck her head into his office.

"Hey _you_" she smiled "How's the project coming?"

"Not good" he smiled scratching the side of his face "I keep getting distracted" he said standing up and walking around his desk.

She frowned and stepped into the office allowing the door to close behind her "By what?" she asked concerned.

"This gorgeous, sexy woman downstairs who looks like she's working _way_ too hard" he smiled stepping so close to her that she was backed up against the wall.

He leaned in and kissed her "What are you up to?" he said softly in between kisses.

"I was just gonna make some coffee"

He laughed and slipped his hands down to her hips "I'm not sure you should be doing that all by yourself"

"Maybe you should come help me out then" she smiled with a sparkle in her eye.

She giggled and they turned and left the office hurrying down the stairs, a few people looked up as they walked across the bullpen "Where are you two going?" Kim asked with a smile and others tuned in quietly.

Tony and Michelle looked at each other "We were just going to-" Michelle began.

"-brew some coffee" Tony finished.

Kim raised her eyebrows "Oh… kay"

"Why would you like some?" Tony asked with a smile as Michelle elbowed him in the side and a few workers chuckled.

"No I'm good… really" she said and they walked away.

A few minutes later Chloe walked up to Kim "Have you seen Tony or Michelle? I need confirmation for the transfers"

A few people laughed and Kim smiled "They're… making coffee, any chance Chase can sign for them?"

"I guess" Chloe said unsurely, wondering why everyone was smiling.

…

And that's how it began, form that point on, any time Tony and Michelle were both unaccounted for, chuckles and comments like 'I think I smell coffee' could be heard. Tony and Michelle didn't mind, they knew that everyone knew that Michelle and Tony were very professional about their relationship and in the end most people were more happy about the fact that they were married than anything else.

But coffee was the least of her problems these days.


	104. Chapter 104 It Only Hurts When I Breath

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Shania Twain_)

***Brace yourself… its another sad one:(… don't worry, someday we will be back to fluff and real babies:)***

~ Chapter 104 ~

3:31

3:44

3:50

3:59

4:02

Michelle sighed and climbed out of bed. Garren looked up and wagged his tail. "Wanna go for a walk?" she asked and he jumped off the bed and ran to her side excitedly "Ok lets go" she said grabbing a sweater and headed to the door. She opened the door and lights flashed in her face.

"Mrs. Almeida what do you have to say about your husband's actions!"

"Mrs. Almeida did you know your husband was working behind the governemnt's back?"

"Mrs. Alme-" she dragged Garren in and slammed the door closed.

For the past week, news of quarantine zones and the virus and the Chandler Plaza Hotel had dominated the news, but now they were onto the next topic… Tony. She groaned and sunk down to the floor with her back to the door and she heard knocking and the doorbell ringing.

"What the hell is going on!" her father said rushing down the stairs ready to rush out the door.

"No!" Michelle said stopping him "Don't go out there, you'll be all over the news"

"This is crazy!"

Michelle sighed "I'll take care of it" she said walking toward the door to the garage.

"Are you calling the police?" her dad asked as she dialed.

"Forget the police" she rolled her eyes as she opened the door and flipped a switch.

"What was that?" her Dad asked.

She pushed the button to start the coffee "Wait for it" she said looking toward the window.

Her Dad looked and suddenly every sprinkler popped out of the yard and began to shoot water everywhere. Suddenly everyone was scattering off. He looked over to Michelle who had already went back into the kitchen where she was pouring herself a cup of coffee "I guess I can't go for a walk now"

"Why are they suddenly so interested in this? Why today of all days?"

She looked up "The other stories are getting old, the court date has been set… and it's our anniversary"

His eyes softened "I forgot" he said sadly.

She remembered his part of the wedding video

…

"Hey you two" he smiled "Congratulations… whether you are watching this a year from now or sixty years from now I'm sure you are still just as in love as you are today… I just wanted to say how proud of both of you I am… my beautiful and intelligent daughter and my caring and strong brand new son-in-law… I would wish you all the happiness in the world, but I'm sure you already have it, just… never take a single moment for granted? Ok" he smiled softly "I love you both so much"

…

A loud buzz rang out and the door slid open. Michelle followed the guard down the hall encountering whistles and taunts from inmates she passed. Finally she reached Tony, but she stopped when she saw him. He had a black eye. He caught the pain and fear in her eyes and it killed him. Her eyes became glassy and he looked down feeling guilty to have upset her even more, this was terrible, he hated her having to see him this way and in this place.

"It's not as bad as it looks" he said.

She wrapped her arms around him tightly "What happened?" she whispered cradling his face.

"I got into a fight" he sighed He had always been tough, but only in a good way… to a terrorist he was someone's worst nightmare and he would stop at nothing, but around her he had always been gentle, but now his darker side was on display and he hated what this place was turning him into and he certainly hated Michelle being exposed to it.

She gently brushed her finger over his hurt eye and her composure disintegrated.

She collapsed crying into his arms "Whoah" he said taken aback by her sudden loss of control "Oh Sweetheart" he said holding her tightly against him.

"You're not safe here…they" her breathing was quick and uneven "They're hurting you… you don't deserve to be punished like this…. This is all because of me"

"Stop" he said "_None_ of this is your fault, you hear me?" he stroked her face "What they've done… whatever they will do… I don't care… no matter what the punishment… it's all _worth it_" he said softly "You're life is worth more than anything else to me"

"Not to me" she said "Your life and your happiness is what's most important to me and look at you… I hate seeing you like this" she said sadly.

"Maybe you shouldn't visit anymore" he looked down at the floor.

Her eyes widened "No that's not-"

"I'm serious Michelle" he said "Every day is a bad day… but I do my best to get through it ok… but then you show up and I'm so happy" he smiled and kissed her softly "But then you leave… and my day has gone from a bad day to the worst day of my life again… its like falling from heaven all the way down the hell every day… it's a long and hard fall and I don't want to do that to myself and more importantly, I don't want to do this to you anymore" he said wiping away her tear.

"No Tony, I won't survive without seeing you every day"

"Baby I know it's gonna be hard, but you are strong and I know you can do it… plus after the trial they might take my visitation away anyway"

"I can't believe you are saying this" she said pulling away slowly in shock "You know how devastated I was when my Dad told me to stop visiting"

"Baby I love seeing you and I wish I could spend every moment with you… its not the visiting that kills me" he looked over her shoulder and saw the guards coming "It's this part that kills me"

"Time's up, lets go" they said to Michelle pulling Tony away.

Michelle cried the whole way home. She had no idea what to do. She missed him so much and wanted to see him as much as possible, but she didn't want to cause him any more pain… he made a sacrifice for her… maybe now she had to sacrifice for him.

_(Later)_

"Has anyone seen her since what happened?" Allison said in a low tone.

The girls shook their heads "She must be a mess"

"Michelle's tough, I'm sure she's keeping it together" Liz said.

"No… this was _Tony_, she's gotta be devastated"

"Which is why we are having this dinner… she shouldn't be alone tonight"

"What would it be their-"

"Second anniversary"

"It _is_ our second anniversary" Michelle said from behind them "We are still married" she said.

Her three friends spun around "Oh of course"

"Hey Michelle"

"Aww-"

"Why are you wearing those sunglasses?" Liz asked "It's dark out"

Michelle stepped up to the hostess "I have a reservation…. Party of four for Marcus"

"Marcus?" Liz said.

Once they sat down Michelle turned her back to the crowd and took off her sunglasses "Sorry I didn't want to get recognized… I've had news reporters stalking me all day"

"And Marcus?"

"Didn't wanna use my name… or Tony's… so I used his middle name"

"Why are they stalking you?" Katie asked.

"They wanna figure out why Tony chose me over everyone in the world…. Take pictures… get quotes… they were outside my front door early this morning"

"Aww that's the last thing you need"

"It's whatever… at this point it can't get much worse"

"Never say that" Katie said.

"Tony thinks I'm pregnant and doesn't want me to visit him anymore" Michelle said.

"Ok maybe it really _can't_ get much worse" Katie sighed.

"Oh yes it can" Allison as her eyes widened at the crowd of reporters heading into the restaurant.

"Oh crap what do we do Michelle?" Liz asked.

Michelle stood and motioned for them to follow "No matter what they say just say 'no comment'"

Fifteen minutes later they were finally back at Michelle's house. They walked in the front door and tripped over a large box in the foyer.

"What the-" Michelle's face dropped.

"What was that?" Liz said and then she saw it.

It was a big brown box with a picture of a beautiful wooden crib. It was from Tony's mother.

"I guess he told his mother" Liz said.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony was shoved into his cell and the barred door slammed behind him. Time for another sleepless night. He walked over and laid on his cot thinking about a night a few months ago.

…

DING DONG

"Uh oh… troubles here" Tony chuckled as he opened the door and Kayla came running in.

"Uncle Tony!" she said hugging his legs with a huge smile.

"Hey guys!" Tony greeted them as Michelle walked up behind him.

"Hey thank you so much for helping us out on such short notice" Candice said handing Tony their bags.

"Yea our flight leave in a few hours so we gotta get going" Danny smiled kissing Kayla on the head and nudging DJ into the door.

"Aww DJ, are you ok sweetie?" Michelle said watching the boy mosey slowly into the house with a dazed an exhausted look on his face as he rubbed his little eyes.

"Yea he just woke up, I think he might have allergies, his allergy meds are in the front pocket of his bag" Danny said.

"Well we gotta run" Candice said as they waved and hurried back out to their car.

Michelle was still watching DJ, he was normally very talkative, right now he looked like he was ready to collapse. "Come here honey" she said picking him up. He laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Allergies?" Tony raised an eyebrow looking at DJ.

"I know" she said rolling her eyes "This looks like the worst case of allergies I've ever seen"

"Uncle Tony I'm gonna show you my new moves I learned in ballet!" Kayla said.

"I'm gonna take him upstairs" Michelle said to Tony.

Tony nodded as he allowed Kayla to drag him into the living room.

_(2 hours later)_

After several failed attempts to learn ballet from a 6 year old and a movie about pink ponies Tony was ready to collapse and was wondering how Michelle was doing with DJ. "Hey I have a cool idea" Tony said to Kayla as the credits rolled on the TV.

"What?" she smiled.

"How about we get in our pajamas" he smiled.

"What!" her smiled disappeared "Pajamas mean bedtime! And its only 7 o'clock! It's not my bedtime yet Uncle Tony!"

He smiled "No, no, no!" he said "You don't understand… in this house we _always_ get into our pajamas early… and then guess what we do" he smiled thinking of 2 answers, the real answer and the one for Kayla.

"What!" she said.

"We watch TV and eat junk food!"

She stood on the couch and began to jump up and down "Yayyy!"

"But first" he stopped her with a smile "We need pajamas"

"Ok" she smiled.

He picked her up over his head so she was soaring through the air like a bird all the way up the stairs until he sat her on the guest bed "Ok, here's your bag" he said putting it on the bed next to her "You get your pajamas on and I'll go get mine on" he said heading down the hallway to their bedroom.

He slowly opened the door to find Michelle laying in the bed in the dark with DJ cuddled up against her with his head resting on her chest. She was watching the TV which was so low it was almost inaudible. "Hey" she whispered as he closed the door behind him and walked over to her.

"Hey, how's he doing?" Tony whispered rubbing DJ's head.

She looked down "He has a fever"

Tony shook his head "I can't believe they still went, it doesn't seem very responsible"

Michelle smiled tiredly "Yea well they're going to Vegas to elope, how much responsibility can you expect?"

"Is it still eloping if they've been married before?"

"Who knows" she laughed "I've tried getting up a few times but he's a light sleeper and before I get out of the room he wakes up crying… how's Kayla?"

"Getting her pajamas on early… I told her it's what we do around here"

Michelle smiled "Uh huh"

"Uncle Tooooony" they heard at the door.

"Gotta go, let me know if you need anything ok?" He said kissing her softly.

She nodded "I will… don't forget your pajamas" she smiled.

_(Later)_

A few hours later Kayla was finally asleep in her bed and Tony was finally able to go back and check on Michelle and DJ. When he walked in they were now on another side of the bed, which had different sheets and they were both wearing their pajamas. Michelle was falling asleep with DJ curled up in her arms. "Hey" she greeted as he walked in and turned off the TV.

"Hey… what happened?" he said.

"He threw up" she sighed.

"You should've called, I would have helped" he whispered feeling DJ's forehead.

"I need sleep and I can't sleep without you, so come to bed and I'll have everything I need" she said holding out her hand.

He took her hand and allowed her to pull him down onto the bed. He crawled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled at the feeling of his warmth. Tony looked over Michelle's shoulder down at DJ.

He wasn't used to Michelle facing the other way, she usually curled into his chest but he didn't mind holding her from behind. Her arms were wrapped protectively around the little boy. He was cleaned up and cozy in his pajamas, she had done that, she had calmed him as he cried, she had rinsed all the grossness out of his hair and changed the sheets, she had taken great care of him. It touched him how much she knew about taking care of children, she was a natural.

She was going to be an amazing mother.

He knew it. She was everything anyone could ask for… their kids would be the luckiest in the world. She would protect them, love them, play with them, feed them, discipline them, teach them… they would grow up to be just like her, they would be perfect.

'Maybe it _was_ time to start a family.' He remembered thinking to himself. He had been so excited to start a family with her and they had such a great life ahead of them…then in a split second she was dying in a hotel…knife to her eyes…then prison…all in the blink of an eye all those beautiful dreams came crashing down… now all that was left was hoping he would make it out in time to see his child graduate college, he was going to miss _everything_ and in the meantime he would sit in this cell and rot… becoming a man he never wanted to be.

_And it only hurts when I'm breathing  
My heart only breaks when it's beating  
My dreams only die when I'm dreaming_

_So I hold my breath_


	105. Chapter 105 Everything

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts and Lifehouse_)

~ Chapter 105 ~

"Garren don't beg" Michelle sighed setting the coffee in front of Gina.

"Thanks, where did you get these? They're delicious" Gina said taking a bite of a muffin.

"Someone at work made them for me"

Gina nodded and paused for a minute "You been eating ok Chelle?" she asked gently as she watched Michelle stir her coffee.

Michelle looked away then back at her coffee "I wish everyone would stop pushing me on that" Michelle said with frustration although she completely understood their worry, but she was a grown woman who could take care of herself.

"We just worry… you used to eat more than we could believe and you've always been thin… but Michelle… it looks like you've dropped 25 pounds-"

"I eat when I'm hungry" Michelle said defensively.

"Yea and how often is that?" Gina said, with Tony gone and Michelle in emotional lockdown it seemed like everyone around her was afraid to upset her so they all just let it go, but Gina knew Tony would want at least one person to be able to go against Michelle without being afraid of hurting her feelings in order to protect her from herself. Gina had to be that person "What did you have for dinner last night?" Michelle stayed silent "Lunch?... Michelle, I know it's hard-"

"You don't know"

"You're right… I can't even imagine, but Michelle-"

"I'm doing the best I can ok? I eat small things… crackers… yogurt…here and there, but I can't eat normally… my friends forced me the other night when I was out to dinner and I spent the night puking it all up… I didn't eat dinner last night because I came home early and cried myself to sleep… none of this is easy, but I'm doing the best I can"

Gina stood and pulled Michelle in for a tight hug "You're doing great"

They broke apart a minute later "I just… even though I knew better, I just keep hoping things are gonna get better but they just stay the same…I just really need some good news"

A smile flickered across Gina's face "I think I have some"

"I kinda meant in court today, but what's your news?"

"Corey asked me to marry him" An uncontrollable smile spread across Gina's face.

Michelle's jaw dropped "You and Corey are getting married?" Michelle said as her brain sputtered.

Gina laughed and nodded "Yea… you approve right?" she said slightly hesitating.

Michelle smiled for the first time in weeks "Of course I do… we _both_ do" Michelle said "I know Tony could be hard on Corey, but he really does love him… Corey was sorta like a son to us for a little while"

"Now he'll be your brother-in-law"

Michelle could see how happy Gina was and she pulled Gina into another tight hug. When they pulled back Gina saw tears in Michelle's eyes.

"Good news, no crying" she joked.

"These are happy tears… you just reminded me there is still some good happening in the world"

"Which is exactly what you need to keep in mind when we get to the courthouse"

Michelle sighed and looked up at the clock "Yea we should probably get going"

As they drove to the courthouse they listened to music softly

_I wake up and tear drops  
They fall down like rain  
I put on that old song we danced to and then  
I head off to my job  
Guess not much has changed  
Punch the clock  
Head for home  
Check the phone, just in case  
Go to bed  
Dream of you  
That's what I'm doing these days_

Gina looked over at Michelle, a woman who, at her breaking point will now be interrogated and examined and torn apart in a courtroom… Gina wondered how she kept her cool, it was something she always admired about Michelle… even if she was crumbling on the inside… on the outside she was tough, quick, professional and emotionless when she needed to be.

"You nervous?" Gina asked curiously.

Michelle glanced over sadly "I don't know if nervous is the word" she said and paused "There is a raging battle in me right now and…" she sighed "Part of me hopes for the best and thinks there's a chance he could be set free… but the other part… the more realistic side knows it's never gonna happen"

"What?" Gina said "There is definitely a chance! You have the best lawyer on the west coast!"

"Doesn't matter… you see I work for the people that are about to bring him down… they are ruthless… I know exactly how this will go already, I've been on the other side, the court is very harsh when it comes to treason… in this case Tony's guilty until absolutely proven innocent… it's just never gonna happen"

"Stop!" Gina said "You _cannot_ accept defeat before you even walk in there, where's your fight?"

"You _know_ I will do everything I can to defend and fight for Tony, but I'm just saying the odds are against us… big time"

She pulled the Denali into the parking lot and cameras began flashing, Michelle sighed and Gina watched out the window in amazement "Holy crap, this is gonna suck"

Michelle glanced in the rearview mirror "Yea well at least they are not sitting outside my window anymore"

"They came to your house?" Gina said in surprise.

"They've been following me for a week" Michelle said parking the SUV.

"They are not gonna make this any easier" Gina sighed.

"Nothing about this is gonna be easy" Michelle looked out the window "Anything they say or ask just say 'no comment' ok?"

Gina nodded.

Ten minutes later they took their seats in the courtroom. Michelle was anxious to see Tony, she hadn't seen him since he'd asked her to stop visiting the jail and she missed him so much, she hoped he was ok. Her eyes were glued to the door, silently begging it to open "Mrs. Almeida" She just wanted to see Tony, the face of the man she loved, she would give anything to see him smile, but she had a sinking feeling she wouldn't be seeing that today "Mrs. Almeida" she wondered what time it would start, court always took forever to start but shouldn't Tony be here by now?

"Michelle!" Gina said nudging her shoulder "The lawyers been calling you" she said gently pointing to the lawyer on the other side of the bench.

"You ok?" he asked her.

"Depends, how are we doing?" she answered.

The lawyer shrugged "We are going to give it everything we've got, Tony's a good man"

"Where is he?" she asked quickly.

"They'll be bringing him out any minute, are you ready?"

Michelle nodded and Gina squeezed her hand. Michelle looked up at saw him. Ice cold. Beautiful. Her heart stopped beating as he glanced up at her. She didn't recognize the look in his eyes making it impossible to read him. He turned and sat down so all she could see was his neck and the back of his head. He was dressed in a suit she'd never seen before, everything about him seemed unfamiliar like he was a different person who she didn't know. She studied the back of his head, his thick wavy brown hair which used to be curly but now was cut short. She remembered running her fingers through that hair.

_Find me here,  
And speak to me.  
I want to feel you,  
I need to hear you.  
You are the light,  
That's leading me,  
To the place,  
Where I find peace again._

You are the strength,  
That keeps me walking.  
You are the hope,  
That keeps me trusting.  
You are the light,  
To my soul.  
You are my purpose,  
You're everything.

And how can I stand here with you,  
And not be moved by you?

_You're all I want,  
You're all I need,  
You're everything, everything._

"Would the defense please rise" Tony and the lawyer stood and she felt as though she'd faint. This seemed so surreal like any second she was going to wake up crying and sweating in her bed… oh how she wished she could just wake up from this nightmare that was becoming her life. For the rest of her life she would struggle to forget the hours she spent in this courtroom listening as a bunch of people stood around picking Tony apart and slowly crushing the beautiful future they once took for granted.

That night as she lay in bed still fully dressed and alone, flashes of that day would haunt her.

"When was the first time you ever spoke to Steven Saunders?" The prosecutor asked.

Tony was sitting at the stand and the utter despair in her eyes killed her "He called my phone"

"Your personal cell?" the prosecutor asked.

"That's correct"

"Aren't those prohibited?"

"Generally yes" Tony explained "But under extenuating circumstances it's not uncommon for high ranking officials to use their personal cells to more quickly and conveniently communicate… I was mostly using it to keep in touch with Jack Bauer and Michelle… transcripts of all calls are on record"

"What did he say?"

"To get somewhere private where we could talk" Tony answered.

"How could you be sure he actually had Michelle?"

"He sent me an IP address with a live video feed of her tied up"

The prosecutor eyed Tony "Did you pass this address on to one of your team members?"

"If I had she wouldn't be sitting in this court room"

Michelle groaned and rolled over deciding to take a bath to try and force herself to relax. As she sat on the edge of the tub and watched the water fill the tub a memory tugged at her heart

"Ow, ow" Allison complained as Michelle and Katie helped her into the house.

"You sure you don't wanna go to the emergency room?" Michelle asked.

"No it's not broken and I'm a mess!" She said indicating to her messy wet and snowy hair.

"Let's get you up to the shower… or maybe just a bath instead since it doesn't look like standing is an option" Michelle as Garren came running down the stairs. Allison shifted all her weight onto Katie so Michelle could catch Garren.

"No, Garren get down!" she grabbed his collar and he licked her face "My baby boy, Yes" she smiled "I love you but you need to go outside" she said "Katie you can just take her up I'm gonna take him outside"

"Alright" They said heading up the stairs slowly.

As she closed the door behind Garren she heard screams from upstairs. She raced up the stairs and stopped when she almost ran into the girls who were running out of the bathroom. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly then turned and looked into the bathroom.

Tony was in the bathtub, surrounded by candles and from what she could tell he was naked, luckily there were plenty of bubbles to keep him hidden "Sweetheart" Michelle giggled "Are you okay?" she laughed harder.

Tony frowned "I'm great"

"We're so sorry Tony" Katie said with a smile from the other room.

"Hey it's nothing to be embarrassed about Tony" Allison called "I WISH my husband would surprise me like that every once and awhile"

"Alright enough" Michelle said leaning down and kissing him softly "I will make this up to you later" she smiled and turned "You two…" she said coming out of the bathroom "we have 4 bathrooms in this house, pick another one"

Michelle sunk slowly into the tub. The tub felt hard against her aching back… she wasn't used to lying back against the tub, she was used to laying back against Tony and this made her sad. She wondered if they'd ever take another bath together again. She wished Stephen Saunders had never been born… had never grown into such a hateful man… had never pushed Tony into doing the unthinkable for her.

"You can't convict him for protecting me"

"We can if he put other people in danger in the process… as I am sure you are aware, Ms. Almeida, Tony took an oath to protect the people of this country"

"It's Mrs."

"Excuse me?"

"It's _Mrs. _Almeida… I am married, speaking of which, I am sure you are aware that Tony _also_ took an oath to protect me and keep me _forsaking all others_" she said narrowing her stare "I can't imagine you take that lightly, after all he was swearing to the same God whom I just had to put my hand on a Bible and swear to tell 'nothing but the truth' to in this very courtroom"

The lawyer was silent for a second "Oh yea? And how do you think God feels about Tony sacrificing millions of people to agonizing death for the sake of a single person"

"Objection" Tony's lawyer stood "his question is not relevant to this case"

She pulled herself up out of the tub. She slid into a pair of his pajama pants and a cubs t-shirt that was way too big for her and climbed into a bed that was way too big without him. She wanted to sleep so badly, to just end this day already and stop hurting so she could start tomorrow which _had_ to be better than today because today had exhausted her. Today they given it all they had. Today they tried their best. Today had been the day they had both feared. Today their future was on the line. Today was the day a decision was to be made.

Today they officially lost everything.


	106. Chapter 106 Not Over You

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

~ Chapter 106 ~

"What the hell?" Gina said as she opened the door to Michelle's bedroom. The room had gone from a warm brown color to a light green, the bed was covered with plastic as if someone was halfway through painting. Gina looked down at her watch '6:14AM' She whipped out her phone and held down the number 4.

"Dessler" Michelle answered.

"Michelle it's Gina"

"I know, I'm sorry, habit" she explained "What's up?" Michelle asked "Need the car?"

"Yea I'm sorry, it getting ridiculous" Gina said reluctantly.

"No its really ok" Michele said softly "In fact… you know what?" Michelle paused "The keys are on the key rack in the closet, take the spare to and just keep it"

"You want me to keep the spare key on me?"

"I want you to keep the car"

"What?" she said "no Michelle-"

"It's a great car, it won't give you any problems"

"But Michelle-"

"Look Tony's not coming home…. At least not for a long time… I'm one person with two cars… I'll hold onto the Denali, take the Jetta so you don't have to worry about breaking down anymore"

"I have no idea how to thank you"

"It's ok really" Michelle said scribbling absentmindedly on the calendar on the desk.

"Thank you so much Michelle"

"You're welcome" Michelle said as someone tapped on her door "Alright I gotta go run a briefing"

"Ok thank you again"

_(Later)_

She stared at the screen in front of her at the desk, but she wasn't actually looking at it, she was far away until someone snapped her back to earth "Hey I'm gonna make some coffee, want some?"

Chloe gasped and walked over "Sam you idiot, why would you say that?"

Sam, realizing about the whole coffee thing stopped and turned back to her "I'm sorry Michelle-"

"Its fine" Michelle said with sad eyes "I'm just gonna head up to my office" she said pushing a button and standing up, silently going up to what called her office aloud, but really would always be _his _office to her.

She sat down into the chair which still smelled like his cologne and sighed as she scanned her workload for the day. She opened an e-mail from Division but before she could read it the phone rang and she cursed it… it was hard for her to focus these days while she was at CTU so the interruption annoying her.

"Dessler" she answered.

"Ms. Dessler there's a lady here to see you… says she's your sister-in-law"

"I'll be right down" Michelle said heading down.

"Hey!" Gina smiled handing her flowers as she walked up.

The guards stuck an arm out to block Gina from touching Michelle.

"She's ok guys" Michelle said and they let their arms down and allowed Gina to hug Michelle.

"I had to come thank you in person"

"So you're skipping class?" Michelle said slightly disapprovingly.

"I just got a car worth $25,000 for free… yea I'm doing some celebrating" Gina looked over her shoulder "Wow! This place looks so different from the last time I was here!"

"When was that?"

"Before you and Tony" she said.

"Yea… the place got blown up and rebuilt so it's understandable that it looks a little different"

"That's right! I forgot about that!" she said looking around in amazement.

"Yup, the same day Tony and I decided to start dating"

"Really?" she asked.

"Yea" Michelle said smiling softly "In fact…" Michelle led her to a small corridor under the stairs and smiled pointing to a corner "That same day this is where we had our first kiss"

Gina smiled "Did _everything_ with you guys happen here?" Gina giggled.

"Except for the wedding itself…. Actually yea… want a tour?" Michelle asked.

"Yea!" Gina smiled.

"Ok" Michelle said leading her further down the hall to CTU Medical "This room" Michelle said pointing to one of the medical rooms "Is where I was laid up for weeks and this was way before me and Tony started dating," She said running her handover the bed "he visited me every day and brought stuff for me to do, brought me food and held my hand through the night, even when I was unconscious and had no idea, he was there"

"Aww" Gina smiled.

She walked down the hall further to the holding rooms and pointed to the left one "That's where he proposed to me… the first time" she smiled.

"You said no?" Gina asked.

"No we did it again for show… for your mother"

Gina laughed "You guys are crazy"

Michelle walked back and stopped by a door and opened it and led her in "This is the break room"

"You guys had sex in here didn't you?" Gina smiled.

Michelle rolled her eyes and turned slightly red "This one and others" she shook her head "But that's not what I was gonna tell you" Michelle walked over to the cabinet and pulled down his Cubs mug" Gina's smiled faded when she saw it and she felt like crying, but Michelle held it gently "He wouldn't drink coffee out of anything but this… some ass decided to hide it as a prank"

"Bad move"

Michelle nodded and cracked a smile "Real bad move… anyway… he was cranky and pissed… so I made him this" Michelle said pulling down another mug. It said 'The Cubs ROCK!' in her handwriting and underneath it said in his handwriting 'And so does Michelle3' Michelle studied the mug silently running her fingers over the letters "Anyway he drank out of this one from that day on and used the cameras to find the guy who did it and retrieve his other mug"

"I bet that guy doesn't work here anymore"

"Damn straight" Michelle nodded putting the mugs back "And if anyone else thinks it's funny they will learn the same lesson"

Gina smiled "What's next?"

Michelle led her out and up the stairs to the roof. There were three helicopters sitting there. "One of these… uh…." She looked closer at the second and then turned and looked at the third "This one" she pointed to the helicopters cabin "That's where Tony saved my life… I was dead for about half a minute, then he revived me in this helicopter"

"I never even knew that happened" Gina said quietly.

Michelle nodded "He's got a knack for saving me apparently… really wish I could return the favor for once…" she said walking back inside and heading up to her office.

"You're too hard on yourself" Gina said as the door closed behind them "You can't save him from this… he chose this"

Michelle sunk into the chair "Still… doesn't seem fair"

"It's not" Gina sighed "This was his office?" she said looking around.

Michelle nodded and looked up at Gina "I can't even concentrate anymore" Gina sat down across from her. "All the happy times we had together… every inch of this building and our home is covered with memories of us… I can't sleep, I can't work, I can't even _think_"

"Is that why you painted your room?"

Michelle looked up and then back down and nodded slowly "I don't even like the color I painted it" she said and a laugh jumped out of her causing Gina to laugh too.

"Yea really… what is that color even _called?_"

Michelle laughed "I have no idea" she said "it's awful… I know what I'm doing tonight"

Gina smiled and paused for a second "You're gonna make it Michelle" she said softly "I know it… you are gonna come through this… and so is he… somehow"

"God, I hope you are right"

_Dreams  
That's where I have to go  
To see your beautiful face anymore_

If you ask me how I'm doing  
I would say I'm doing just fine  
I would lie and say that you're not on my mind  
But I go out, and I sit down at a table set for two  
And finally I'm forced to face the truth  
No matter what I say I'm..  
Not over you

_Damn, damn girl you do it well, and I thought you were innocent  
Took this heart and put it through hell, but still your magnificent  
I, I'm a boomerang, doesn't matter how you throw me  
I turn around and I'm back in the game, even better than the old me  
But I'm not even close without you_

_(Later)_

The loud buzz stirred him awake "Almeida. Up." He heard as he was dragged to his feet and pushed out of his cell. He rubbed his eyes and mumbled a curse… that was the first sleep he had gotten in days. They pushed him down into a chair behind a glass wall with a phone.

Michelle appeared on the other side and picked up the phone "Hey Sweetheart" she said with a weak smile.

"Hey" he said and from the sound of his voice she could tell he'd just woken up "What's going on?" he asked.

"I umm… I know you told me not to visit but uh" she hesitated.

"I don't like you seeing me like this… I don't like any of this… you don't belong here"

"Neither do you" she said.

"No point in arguing anymore…" he said "Look I told you only to come if you really had to… so what's going on?"

She hated seeing him so hopeless and angry "I'm moving to Seattle"

His eyes widened with what looked like fear and this made her feel slightly better "Why?"

"Well I won't go if you don't want me to go… I don't wanna go anyway… they want to move me to the Homeland office there for-"

"Restructuring" he finished her sentence. He looked at her still shocked "Michelle you know what that means right?" he asked and she nodded "They are you setting you up for a promotion"

"Yea I know but I don't wanna leave-"

"Go" he said.

"But you are here and I don't-"

"GO" he said "This is a major career move, which I know you want…. And it will be better if you are not near me"

That hurt… she knew he was probably only thinking of her, but still, it hurt all the same. "No I wanna be here with you"

"Damn it Michelle! Do NOT do this! Do NOT!" he yelled then stopped himself so as not to attract too much attention "I did this so you could live… I sit in this god forsaken place every day for probably the rest of my life so that you can _live_! So _go_… if you sit around LA letting your life pass you by because you miss me then I am here for nothing, so GO, be amazing, get promoted and _please_ just do anything that makes you happy… cause I can't stand the thought of you suffering for even a second… after all… that's why I'm here"

Michelle was shocked, she nodded slowly and hung up the phone slowly as they pulled him away.

"Gina?" Michelle said into the phone as she sat in the Denali "I thought of a way you could help me out… could you take care of Garren for me… check on him twice a day… I'm moving to Seattle"


	107. Chapter 107 Then I Did

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 107 ~

Michelle pushed open the door to her new apartment. It smelled dusty and she couldn't find the light. Finally, using her cell phone as a flashlight she found the switch.

It was not home.

The walls were not painted warm colors. They were white. There was no big cozy furniture. There was no furniture at all. It didn't smell fresh. There was no barking dog running up to greet her. No pictures of good times hung on the walls. No plants. No food.

No Tony.

She thought she had hit rock bottom before, but she was wrong. Because as she stood in the doorway to her new Seattle apartment soaking wet and shivering, she knew… _this_ was rock bottom.

For a few minutes she seriously considered getting back into the car and driving home, and she almost did, the only thing that stopped her was the wave of exhaustion that hit her… she knew if she tried to drive she'd fall asleep for sure... this made her angry because she knew that even if she _tried_ to fall asleep it would never happen.

In the morning the furniture truck would arrive with all the furniture she had ordered. She hadn't moved any furniture from LA here, she had left the house exactly as it was, minus her work clothes and a few personal items. After all this had been an attempt to escape the house which had been haunting her with the beautiful memories it held… the same house she so badly wished she was in right now.

_(The next morning)_

When it rained, it poured… and Seattle it _always_ rained. Rain was something Michelle used to love. As she stepped into the elevator she remembered what he had said.

"_T__he other day I was driving home and it was raining and I thought about all the little rain drops...God there's gotta be billions of them that fall in just a few seconds in Los Angeles alone, then there's the ones that already have fallen and then the ones that will fall... puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans... all full of little raindrops... that's a lot of raindrops... That's how much I love you... I love you as much as all the little raindrops put together… So the next time it rains or you go swimming... remember that"_

She was glad her face was already wet from the rain so no one noticed the tear that slipped out of her eye. She wiped her face and took the hood of her jacket down the reveal her straightened hair. She proceeded into the lobby and the receptionist looked up then picked up the phone. Michelle didn't even have to introduce herself, many people knew who she was from watching the news, she hoped straightening her hair would change her look a little… plus her curls were no longer fun… they were just another reminder of something beautiful that was gone.

A white-haired man with a friendly smile walked up to her "Good morning Michelle!" he shook her hand "My name is Bill Buchannan, how are you today?"

"Better than yesterday" she said offering him a friendly smile.

He decided he liked her smile. This was a woman he felt bad for. He had seen her story on the news and thought to himself 'That poor woman didn't even ask for what he did yet _she_ is being treated like it was her idea' although he had to admit having an inner-office relationship was her own fault. Now as she stood in front of him he looked at her and saw a very pretty woman who looked absolutely exhausted, but hid it well. He could tell she was still having a pretty rough time but did not want anyone's pity.

"Let's get started" he smiled leading her down the hall "Welcome to Homeland Security, Seattle"

"This" he said opening the door to an mid-sized office with two big windows "will be your office, I've been told to keep you at a level 6 clearance, all your access codes are in that folder on the desk" he pulled an envelope out of his jacket "Here are keys to the office, we ask that you keep it locked at all times to protect any sensitive material"

Michelle took the envelope and nodded "Who else has a key?"

"Just me" he answered with a smile. She was sharp, she knew exactly what questions to ask and he liked that very much.

A silence hung between them for a second "So where do I start?" Michelle asked.

He smiled again and now he was sure, Michelle was his new favorite colleague.

_(Later)_

As she sat in the lunch room trying to finish that small amount of food she packed herself, Michelle heard the door open and two people walked in. They hesitated and looked at each other when they saw her. Their chatting became very quiet and she could feel them staring at her as they sat down at another table to eat. She already missed CTU LA. She remembered Chloe's looked of utter disapproval when she found out Michelle was leaving.

"_Wait…you're leaving? But who's taking your place as Second-in-Command?"she had asked in a slightly annoyed tone._

"_Erin Driscoll"_

"_Who is that? Is she good?"_

"_I don't know… I don't know much about her… from what I understand she started out in the finance department and worked her way up the ladder in Virginia"_

"_Virginia?"_

"_Yea"_

"_And you think she's ready for Los Angeles?"_

"_It's not my decision"_

_Chloe was dissatisfied with this answer but decided to do her own research later "I hate that you are leaving us" she said._

"_I can't be here, but I'm sure we'll be in contact"_

_Chloe nodded and hugged her "I'm sorry it had to end like this… you didn't deserve it" she said and walked away._

She heard a laugh from the people watching her, she then threw out what was left of her lunch and left the room.

10 minutes later she was standing outside Bill's office "Ugh" she heard him growl "I don't know how to… I hate this…"

Michelle hesitated by the door.

"Michelle?" Bill noticed her "Come in"

She walked in slowly "I just needed you to check this before I send it… I haven't done one in awhile so…"

"It looks great" he smiled "Actually better than the ones Steph usually does, don't tell her I said that" he joked.

She nodded and turned to leave but stopped "I couldn't help but hear you were having some trouble with the internet uplink?"

Bill sighed "Yea… some sort of security blockage"

"Can I take a look?" she asked.

"Well it's not exactly like CTU… it's something deeply rooted in the IPSec architecture, I have this problem all the time… I can just call tech"

"I'm pretty sure I can help" she said.

"Ok sure" he said allowing her to stand closer.

She scanned the screen and pushed two buttons and watched. Then she typed something quickly "There it is… you weren't logged in to the exclusive IP server… that's why it does that"

"Wow" Bill smiled "I had no idea you were this familiar with our IPSec system"

"I should be… I built it" she said picking up her folder.

His eyes widened "You're kidding… wow… it's really great to have you here Michelle"

She nodded and smiled politely… she knew she was supposed to say something like 'it's great to be here' but she wasn't about to lie.

_(Later)_

"Working late on your first day?" Bill said poking his head into Michelle's office on his way out with his jacket draped over his arm.

Michelle looked up and shrugged her shoulder "I guess I'm used to long shifts"

"Yea?" he said stepping in "How many hours a day were you at CTU on average?"

"Well our shifts were supposed to last 10 hours…. But most of the time we were there 13 or 14"

Bill silently noted she said 'we' and 'our' probably referring to her and Tony. "That's admirable, but we won't ask you to do that here"

No one ever asked her to do it, she just liked her work, but she saw no point in arguing. Instead she nodded and sent him a polite smile then turned back to her work.

He watched her for a few seconds, she was so intriguing , she was pretty and smart, but somewhat dark and even though she had never said a word about it… he knew she had been through some awful things and he found it completely amazing that after all that she was still working. He had to ask, but he didn't know how.

"So are they allowing you visitation?"

Michelle looked up, not expecting the question, she paused for a second and then answered simply "Yea they are"

"That's good… must be hard being far away" he said.

"It's _all_ hard" she said quickly "But it really doesn't matter he'd rather I not visit anyway" she said making it clear she didn't want to continue this conversation.

Bill took the hint and tried another subject "By the way there will be a 9AM meeting tomorrow"

"Ok" she nodded, even though they both knew she already read the email about it.

_(The next morning)_

As Michelle printed out the last page of her proposal Bill stuck his head in and smiled "How did I know you'd be here early?"

"I finished the proposal, I'd like for you to look it over then send off to be reviewed"

"Wow we are moving right along aren't we?" he smiled taking the papers "I will review them and give Joe a call… he said he would like to meet in person to discuss our proposal when we finished…"

"Mr. Buchannan" A woman stepped in "We have a situation going on"

"What's going on?" Bill said.

The woman shot a slightly annoyed look at Michelle and then back to Bill, but didn't speak.

"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of her" Bill said "Michelle and I are a team, we are here to study how this unit responds to situations to evaluate what changes need to be made in restructuring"

_(The next night)_

Michelle slid her lipstick across her lips slowly. She missed the days when she didn't feel like she needed make-up to look beautiful. She missed the days when Tony was there every morning fighting to get her make-up away from her, insisting that she was gorgeous without it. Her cell phone rang "Dessler"

"Hey Michelle it's Bill, I'm going to be passing by where you live, wanna ride together?"

"Umm" Michelle did not want to ride with him but she also didn't want to be rude "The thing is, I'm running kinda late"

"That's actually perfect cuz Joe's flight was a little delayed, he'll be landing 30 minutes later than expected"

"Oh" Michelle said. Great. What was she supposed to say now? "Ok well…"

Bill smiled "I'm about 20 minutes away"

"Ok then, see you soon" she said hanging up the phone and groaning… she really didn't want company.

18 minutes later he knocked on her door. It was silent for a moment then the door opened to reveal Michelle, dressed very professionally. When he had been reading her file before she arrived it had included accompanying pictures of her at various work-related functions and he had noticed she always had a sharp professional look with a hint of sexiness, but tonight her outfit was completely professional, although that wasn't to say she didn't look beautiful, because she certainly did.

"Hey" she smiled politely "Come in" she offered.

He smiled and stepped in "Thanks, sorry to show up last minute"

"It's not a problem, you can make yourself comfortable, I'm just gonna finish up" she said heading back to her room.

If it were not so pathetic, Michelle would find it funny that after spending the last 3 years being the most outgoing, social, hospitable person she now felt like the most anti-social person in the world. She had nothing left to do she just wanted to be alone so she sat in her room making noises so it sounded like she was busy getting ready.

She emerged 15 minutes later "Sorry about that… ready?" she asked.

He nodded "Sure, I'll drive?"

"That's fine" she nodded grabbing her purse and keys.

They rode in awkward silence for awhile.

Michelle's mind was on the rain, which led her to wonder what Tony was doing right now. She felt a pain in her chest at the thought of him pushing her away. How was it so easy for him to just tell her to leave and move away? Even if she had stayed he didn't want her to visit… maybe it was hard when their time was over but to her every moment they got together was worth it… was it not worth it to him? …he had said he was doing it for her sake… it's not what she wanted…

_I thought about calling you when I got off the plane  
Every time I see this city through the clouds I get that way  
Call me crazy for missing you like this but I do_

I can see clear to the mountains as I head up our old street  
I remember how we'd call in sick on days like these  
And turn the music up roll the windows down and just drive  
You talked me outta givin' up on myself so many times  
Convinced me to get in while I could regrets hang heavy on the mind  
But you never doubted me you kept pushing me

Saying 'You've been waiting all your life for a break like this  
It's your chance of a lifetime you just know it is  
You gotta go find those dreams'  
Was the last thing that you said  
And then I did

But you were wrong  
Love was what I wanted all along  
And now you're gone

Bill's mind was on how to start a conversation. She was quiet and seemed very distant and though he had just met her he felt like he knew so much about her from the news and her file… yet there was so much he still wanted to know… he wanted to know the person behind the polite smile. From what he could tell from her file she had always been energetic and very passionate, she was a rising star… but for some reason he got the feeling like there was a different woman sitting next to him. This woman was smart, beautiful and was, for sure, a rising star… but this woman did not have the sparkle in her eyes, the wide smile on her lips or even curly hair for that matter. The transformation amazed him and he wondered if the passionate, smiley star was still in there under the professional exterior.

He struggled to find words "So you tired of the rain yet?" he joked. Great move… the weather, that's really all he could come up with?

Michelle snapped out of her thoughts "Uh… no…" she said "I actually like the rain"

"Yea?" he asked "You must be the first person I've met who actually _likes_ the rain" he said with a chuckle "Why do you like the rain?"

Great. The one question she had no interest in answering or even _thinking_ about… "I don't know… it's calming I guess" she lied.

"Hey! I apologize for keeping you waiting!" a six foot man in a suit said smiling widely "Planes… the fastest way to travel, yet they are never on time…" he said sitting.

"How are you Mr. McLaughlin?" Bill smiled shaking his hand.

He turned to Michelle and they hugged and he smiled at her "He knows better than to call me that, please, call me Joe"

"Sure" she smiled and nodded "Michelle Dessler" she introduced herself.

He raised his eyebrows "No longer an Almeida?" he asked taking a seat.

"At work I've always been Dessler to avoid confusion"

He nodded "Right" he said then glanced down at her hand and saw the large glittering ring and wedding band.

"What can I get you to drink?" the waiter asked in a friendly voice.

"I'd like three empty glasses, I brought some of my own" Joe said lifting out of the bag a bottle of wine. He turned to them and smiled "Made it myself, you've got to try"

Half an hour later they were enjoying dinner as Michelle explained "For the next phase we plan to do a series of interviews… talk face to face with each employee, ask them what things they do on a given day, what improvements they suggest, get a feel for how each person works in conjunction with their known abilities so we can better place them in the new hierarchy, which I have mapped out here…" she said showing him a small chart of the new chain of command.

He studied it and pointed "So these are the department heads…with 3 people in between them and the director…"

"To free the director for administrative work"

"Looks absolutely perfect, I like it" he nodded taking another bite of his food "Sounds like an excellent proposal, I will sign off on it and you can begin immediately" he smiled opening the bottle "Now" he said taking their empty glasses "Enough business, I would like you to try this wine I made… well helped make at least, my brother has a vineyard"

Michelle tried to politely decline, but she could tell he wouldn't take no for an answer and she couldn't even say she needed to drive. She was such a lightweight that she almost never drank. The few times she had let herself get drunk it had been at home with Tony to look after her. She took a sip and nodded "That's got a very nice taste to it" she smiled and this time she wasn't lying, it was actually a very good wine and she wasn't going to lie, it did feel nice to have some of the weight of everything slide off her shoulders a little.

_(2 hours later)_

"Have a great night you two! We should do this again" Joe smiled stepping into his vehicle.

They waved and Bill turned to Michelle "Alright, ready for me to drive you home?"

"Definitely… I'm very tired and little drunk" she smiled and he smiled back.

_That_ was the smile he had been waiting to see. The one he had seen in the pictures from her profile and on TV. "It looks like that's a good thing" he chuckled as he opened the door for her to get into his car.

"What is?"

"The fact that you are a little buzzed… maybe it's a good thing because for the first time since I met you, you are _really_ smiling"

Her smile faded "It doesn't change anything" she said looking down "He told me to stay away from him"

"Is he angry at you?" Bill asked.

Michelle thought for a second or two "I hope not… he has every right to be…. But that's not like him"

"Prison changes people" Bill offered.

Her eyes darkened "Not him" she looked away and he knew she was done talking, he had hit a nerve. She had snapped closed like a clam. She did not say another word the entire ride. When they pulled up in front of her apartment building she said "Thank you for driving, see you Monday"

"Ok, take care" he said as she got out.

Once she was inside she dropped her purse and threw herself onto her bed.

Stupid Joe Laughlin…. I clearly didn't want his stupid wine. Now I've said more than I ever wanted to. This is why I don't drink… She didn't want anyone to know her problems, she didn't wanna talk about her problems, she didn't wanna think about her problems.

She just wanted those two muscular, familiar, warm arms to wrap around her from behind and take all her problems away.


	108. Chapter 108 The Story

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Brandi Carlile_)

Alright well with Tony in jail and Michelle far from home there's not too much going on in this time period so we are going to skip through this pretty quick, next chapter we will move toward getting Tony out of jail and getting Michelle back to LA.

~ Chapter 108 ~

"How would you describe yourself, from a professional standpoint?"

"You mean… uh… like" the man stammered.

"It's _ok_" she said softly and Bill watched her "We just want to know what you see as your strengths and weaknesses"

Bill found himself very jealous of this man, even though he knew the man meant nothing to Michelle, he wished she would look at him that way. They had been getting closer as partners the past two months, but he was always longing to get closer to her. She had a soft and alluring side that kept him awake at night thinking of her. Every once and awhile she would slip and he would get to see her real smile…not the polite forced one, but the one which made everyone around her smile, including him. But he knew she was way too attached to Tony to notice him, he really wished she would give up on Tony already, but knew that would never happen, she was clearly way too devoted. Bill admired her soft and flawless features as Kyle stuttered on about his weaknesses.

"He's so pathetic" Valerie rolled her eyes as she watched through the glass into the conference room. She sat at her desk with two other women as they watched Kyle struggle "You'd think he never saw a pretty woman before… he's such a mess"

The girls giggled "When's your interview?"

"Tomorrow actually" Valerie said "But I don't care, I'm not worried at all… I've been running this department for long enough she can't touch me... and Bill _knows_ it"

"You think she hates you?" Gloria asked.

"I know I can't _stand_ her…" she sneered "Shows up and takes over… she doesn't boss us around but she walks around here and has this air like she could eliminate any of us at any time she wants. Everyone stands up straighter when she walks in to the room and is on their best behavior and so nice to her like she's royalty… Princess Michelle…" she rolled her eyes "I have to yell and threaten to get people to do some work around here… all she has to do is look at them and they run to her side to help her"

"They wanna keep their jobs" Kaylie said simply.

"That's what I thought at first, but when I hear some of them talking… they _really_ like her and like look up to her… it's ridiculous" she shook her head.

"Well her record _is_ pretty impressive..." Gloria said

"Yea I heard she was a _total_ badass" Kaylie smiled "She like hunted terrorists down and she was _inside_ that hotel and _survived_!"

"I'm not sure I even believe that" Valerie said.

"It was on the _news_, they even said it!" Gloria argued.

"Whatever" Valerie looked up "Looks like they're done… watch this"

They all emerged from the conference room. Bill was talking with Michelle as he held the door open for her. They began walking toward the girls. Michelle glanced at Valerie and stopped "I assume the departmental review is on my desk?" she asked indicating to the fact that Valerie clearly wasn't working.

"Of course" Valerie smiled as if she had just won a fight.

"I don't want it in my system, the e-mail specified it had to be on paper with raised seal to be sent to McLaughlin… you did read the e-mail right?"

"I just… forgot…" she stammered "You'll have it by the end of the day"

"This _is _the end of my day, I'm leaving in ten minutes" Michelle turned "Is his flight on time with the storm coming?"

"They say it's not gonna be too bad, he hasn't called, so I'm assuming he's on schedule"

Michelle turned back to Valerie "You have ten minutes"

Fifteen minutes later Michelle and Bill were on their way out the door when Valerie ran up behind them with the folder in her hand "Wait! Here" she said thrusting it toward Michelle.

Michelle looked down at it "As a department head it is _your job_ to keep everything running on schedule… how am I supposed to certify you as capable of doing that, when you can't even meet your _own_ deadlines?" Michelle began to turn away then stopped "I know you _think_ I'm out to get you… but don't you realize? You are making your own bed here" she said shaking her head and walking away without taking the papers.

Bill sighed and looked down at the papers in her hand "We have a copy… you can shred that" he said.

"How?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows and began to walk away "Michelle finished them five minutes ago"

A few seconds later Bill was at her side, she turned to him as they walked and asked "Mind if I drive?"

"Not at all" he said as the big SUV lit up.

_(Later that night)_

"Ah another fabulous night, looks like you are making great strides and as always" he smiled "It was a pleasure hanging out with you guys" he said looking around the restaurant "Wow, this place really cleared out huh?"

Michelle's eyes widened "I think I know why" she said pointing to the window which was partially covered in snow.

"Oh my- that's gotta be 20 inches!" he said grabbing his coat "Looks like it's gonna be a long night… I've gotta go, it's been a pleasure" he said shaking Bill's hand and hugging Michelle

"We better get going too" Bill said.

They stepped out into the snow and the cold shook them. Michelle began to shiver as they walked down the street and her feet turned to ice. Ten minutes later Michelle stopped "I don't think this is the right parking garage, I think we should have gone left, she pointed down the road.

He looked up and nodded in agreement "You're right… I'm sorry" he said offering her his coat but she politely declined as they walk back.

Fifteen minutes later they finally arrived at the car "Good thing we brought my vehicle" Michelle said pulling her coat on. This vehicle had saved her in all kinds of bad weather before.

"…And he kicks it from center field and... he scores!" The TV announced.

"You're watching soccer on TV?" Tony asked Corey "Soccer's the kind of sport that's fun in person, but watching it on TV?" he laughed "Don't you have something better to do?" he leaned over the couch stealing the remote from Corey's hands.

"Hey!" Corey laughed as he tried to grab the remote "No… I'm not crazy enough to try to go anywhere in this storm"

Tony handed him back the remote and his smile faded "Yea… I'm really worried… she should be here any minute" he said, and as if on cue the phone rang. He rushed over and picked it up "Almeida"

"Tony I need your help" he heard he say with thunder cracking in the background.

"What's the matter baby?" he said softly "You ok?"

"I'm ok… this guy in a station wagon cut me off and when I swerved to avoid the accident my car got stuck in the in this trench of water on the side of the road… I tried but I can't get it out, I'm by the grocery store"

"I'm on my way sweetheart, stay in the car" he said as he grabbed his keys and unlocked the Denali.

As Tony pulled up behind her car he saw a dark figure moving toward the car. He got out and saw a tall man walking up behind her car slowly. In a few seconds Tony was right up behind the guy "Can I help you?" he said startling the man.

"Uh" he stopped and glanced back at the car "I'm just helping this woman with her car"

"That woman is my wife, I'll take it from here" Tony said as he noticed the man reaching for something slowly "Don't even try it" Tony threatened "Get lost,_ now_"

The man nodded and walked off, looking back every few steps. By now Michelle had taken notice and was looking through her mirror. Tony opened her door "Hey baby" he smiled as water dripped down his face "Ready to go home?"

"Man… there was snow on the ground when we got to the restaurant but it must have really picked up to be this high" Bill commented and he looked out the window.

"Yea and it's not letting up anytime soon" Michelle said focused on the road.

"You're hair is soaked" Bill noticed.

"I'm freezing… just can't wait to get home" she said as she drove and the Denali plowed through the snow.

Twenty minutes later they stepped in the door of Michelle's apartment. Bill awkwardly stood in the door "You think they have any cabs? My car will never make it"

"No" Michelle said "Come inside, you're not going anywhere"

Bill couldn't stop the smile, he had never heard her be protective…was she being protective? Or just stating the obvious? He didn't know but he was happy to stay.

She went into her bedroom grabbing for a pair of sweatpants but froze realizing that she was about to lend Tony's sweatpants to Bill… was that weird? She held them in her hands… she had brought a few pairs of his clothes to wear for comfort… it wasn't weird… he was just a friend… like Corey or any other friend… plus, what else could she do? She had to give him something. She brought out a CTU shirt and black sweatpants and handed them to Bill "Here, while your clothes are in the dryer"

"It's ok" he said shaking his head.

"You're clothes are _soaked_, you cannot sleep in them… just take them, its fine"

"I don't want things to be weird for you… because those…" he wasn't sure how to end the sentence.

"Yes, they belong to Tony, but you know what? They're just sweatpants… and he would want you to have them… I know everybody thinks he's cold and heartless for putting me before everyone else, but he's not like that at all… he would give anything to help someone in need"

Bill accepted the pants and Michelle began to walk away "Unless 'anything' includes you" he said and she stopped and turned around.

"Last year I was mugged" she said "Well… at least the kid tried"

Bill smiled at the thought of Michelle kicking a thug's ass.

"The guy trying to mug me wound up being a kid who was homeless… didn't even know how to use the gun he put to my head" she looked up at Bill "Tony _forgave_ him and took him under his wing, we got him back on his feet and now he's climbing the corporate ladder at a security company, volunteering on the weekends and just got engaged to my sister-in-law" she said "Tony's not a bad guy and he never wanted anybody to get hurt… he was just trapped and nothing about it was fair" she said turning away because she could tell she was about to completely lose it.

"Michelle-" Bill said.

"I need a few minutes" she said going into her room.

_I climbed across the mountain tops  
Swam all across the ocean blue  
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules  
But baby I broke them all for you  
Because even when I was flat broke  
You made me feel like a million bucks  
Yeah you do and I was made for you_

_All of these lines across my face  
Tell you the story of who I am  
So many stories of where I've been  
And how I got to where I am  
But these stories don't mean anything  
When you've got no one to tell them to  
It's true...I was made for you  
_

Michelle emerged fifteen minutes later, she walked up and took Bill's wet clothes off the table "Ok I'll get these in the machine"

"Michelle I didn't mean to upset you before"

"You didn't" she said "Well… I obviously got upset, but it's not your fault… I'm just… sensitive when it comes to him" she said turning to walk to the laundry room.

"For what it's worth I believe you" he said which caused her to stop "I believe you that he's a good guy"

"And what did you think before?" she asked.

"Before what exactly? Before this conversation?"

She walked over to him "What did you think before you met me? Be honest"

"I thought Tony was a guy who was incredibly devoted to and in love with some girl, I thought that he probably made the decision without much thought out of instinct to save her…" Bill decided to be honest with her "I thought he was foolish for not thinking more clearly… I thought they were _both_ extremely foolish for carrying on an inter-office relationship which they both knew was against the rules for this exact reason-"

"And how do you get from there to where you are now? You think he's a nice guy now because I told you a story?"

"Because I've had the chance to meet that girl he risked everything to save, and the more I get to know her, the more I understand why he risked it all"

If she could move her jaw would be on the floor. She had no idea what to do with those words so instead she nodded slowly and turned away to go to the laundry room. She stood leaning against the rumbling machine and thought quietly. 'Was that a compliment? It definitely was… but it was more than a compliment… was he… no they were just friends, co-workers and she couldn't even fathom the idea of any relationship other than friendship… but that didn't sound like a friend comment…. I'm just over thinking it… he probably just meant that know that he knows me… wait' Michelle stopped. How could he think he knows her when she hasn't even recognized her own reflection in the mirror for months…she barely knew who she was these days… she had been broken to pieces when she lost Tony and now she felt as though the pieces of who she used to be were now scattered everywhere… so who exactly did he think he was getting to know?

In this town she felt like a ghost. She was tired of people thinking they knew her when the truth was, they didn't… Michelle hadn't felt like herself since the day they dragged him away, she missed being the way she used to and had no idea how or if she would ever get back to it, but in the meantime she needed at least one person to understand… she was so far from all her friends and family and she missed being around people who knew who she _really_ was.

She shut off the light and headed down the hall, as she walked back into the room Bill looked up at her "What's wrong?" he asked seeing there was more she wanted to say. Bill and Michelle had become good friends and they rarely ever talked about anything extremely personal. They mostly talked about work, the news and day-to-day things and even though he had questions and so many times wanted to ask about her life back in LA, he had always held back because he knew she had put up walls and had no interest in letting him in.

"Christmas was 3 weeks ago" Michelle said "I uh… I didn't feel like spending it with my dad because he likes to have big dinner and make gingerbread houses…so I told him I was going to be with Tony's family" she took a few steps closer "I didn't wanna be with Tony's family because they always watch old Christmas home videos and go caroling… I told them I was with my brother… and I didn't wanna be with my brother because they would be talking about Santa and playing games with the kids and smiling and laughing… so I told them I was with my sister in law…"

Bill shrugged "Some people don't like holidays, _especially_ Christmas"

She continued "I didn't want to be with Gina because _she_ would see that I am not at all the person I've always been… because Christmas is my _favorite_ holiday" Michelle paused "She would be worried if she found out that I spent Christmas in bed waiting for work the next day so I could forget Christmas existed…. I told her I was with my Dad" Michelle looked up at Bill "What I'm trying to say is you may think you know that girl… but to be honest I haven't seen any sign of her in months"

"Your experiencing a great loss Michelle, it's gonna change you, that's for sure… all I'm saying is that I think my new coworker is a pretty special person…" he studied her and sensed that she had had enough of talking about this "and I'm really, _really_ glad she drives a big SUV that got us home in this mess" he said lightening the mood.

She was so relieved a huge smile spread across her face. _That_ was exactly what she had needed, an out. They silently agreed to change the subject, which made her feel so much better, no more talking about Tony, Bill was quickly learning it was an extremely sensitive topic.

"And can you believe its still coming down?" she said looking out the window.

"I know we might be stuck here _awhile_" Bill said looking out the window then he turned to look at Michelle just in time to see her eyes grow wide in slight fear "I didn't mean to invite myself I just-"

"No, no… that's not it" she said looking up at him "We're gonna starve"

"What?" he said with a slight smile "You don't have food?"

Michelle shook her head slowly "I don't cook" she said rushing to the kitchen "All I have is some yogurt and crackers"

"I guess we will have to venture out in the morning" Bill said "The grocery store is only half a mile away, it should be fine "But we should probably get some rest"

Michelle retreated to her bedroom while Bill set up on the couch. She locked her door and climbed into bed. She was fully aware that at many times she would talk in her sleep, she also knew that she had been having many nightmares lately… these two things put together led Michelle to decide to stay awake, it actually wasn't that hard anymore, most nights she only slept a few hours anyway. She sighed and remembered days when she would complain she was tired after only getting 6 hours of sleep when Tony was free…

Oh what she would give for 6 hours of sleep….

Oh what she would give to have Tony free…


	109. Chapter 109 Feel This

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

~ Chapter 109 ~

"_Baby you're alive" he said in a shaky voice "and nobody else got hurt because of what I did and that's more than I hoped for… I can live with that" he said "Even in prison"_

She woke up panting. She wished she could say it had been a nightmare, but if that were true he would be next to her… but it wasn't and he wasn't.

It was hard to have a good day after a morning like that but she had to try she thought as she walked into her office. She dropped down into her chair and began scanning her e-mails "Good morning" Bill smiled sticking his head into the office.

"Hey Bill" she said quietly.

"The board will be here soon, so smile, this is our day to shine" he said happily "Today is the day we officially set things right and get to take all the credit as everything begins to fall into place in the next few months"

Michelle nodded "Yea"

"Come on Michelle" he said sitting on the edge of her desk "Get a _little _excited, you've worked so hard… plus you finally get to set Valerie straight"

"Valerie does not like me and I _don't care_…. Not 'I don't care' like 'I hate her right back'….like 'I don't care' as in 'it is completely irrelevant'…. Despite what everyone thinks I am _not_ out to get her" 

"She's just jealous of you" Bill said.

"Jealous of _what?_" Michelle thought the idea was absurd "Anyone who watches the news knows better than to be jealous of me"

"Yea and despite that, here you are… taking control of her workplace, effortlessly running this place and everyone likes you and you don't even have to try"

There was a knock at the door "Come in" Michelle called.

A woman opened the door "The board is here"

"Thank you" Michelle nodded.

"Do you need anything Ms. Dessler?"

"I'm fine, thank you" she said and closed the folder and stood "Ready?"

_(Later)_

"Demoted?" Valerie's jaw dropped "This is a joke right?" she looked around frantically "Mr. McLaughlin, can I please just say how unfair this all was? Michelle has a personal problem with me and I don't think this is an appropriate arrangement-"

"Ms. Dessler has apprised me of your concerns" he said.

"You can ask anyone here! I have done a great-" she tried.

Joe glanced at Michelle in agreement and then looked back at Valerie "I am not interested in anyone else's assessment, you can accept this demotion or be terminated"

The phone rang and Joe picked it up.

"I would like to pursue this further" Valerie said.

Joe looked up with his eyebrows raised "I'm sorry Ms. Dessler has no time for that… she has a very important phone call.

"What?" Valerie said with anger.

Joe ignored Valerie and turned to Michelle saying "Michelle… the_ president_ would like to speak with you"

Bill raised his eyebrows and Valerie sat in disbelief.

"This is Michelle Dessler" Michelle took the phone.

"Please hold for the president"

"Good morning Ms. Dessler" his deep voice rang.

"Good morning sir" she said as everyone in the room watched her closely.

"I'm sorry to disturb you at work but I needed to talk to you myself… it's a private matter"

"What's going on?" Michelle asked, completely lost on what sort of personal matter the president could possibly be calling about.

"As I'm sure you're aware I am coming to the end of my presidency" he began "This is a time where I have a few special privileges, one being presidential pardoning"

Her heart stopped beating and she couldn't breathe.

"Do you follow me?" he said.

Michelle suddenly felt her heart pounding in her chest, she felt as though it was about to leap out of her chest "I-" she couldn't speak.

"I have been speaking with Jack Bauer and I understand that there have been many situations in which your husband has been an integral part of saving my life… I also have heard that you and he have spent a great deal of time investigating what happened to me a few years back and though I have never said it, I _whole-heartedly _thank you both for your diligence"

Tears began streaming down Michelle's face but she did not let herself cry out loud as the president spoke to her. Everyone in the room watching her became very confused.

"I am calling to let you know that I will be exercising my pardoning privilege to free your husband" David said "I don't agree with how things turned out and while I respect the decision the courts made, I still personally feel this country owes a great deal to both you and Tony and because of all this, I will grant him a pardon" he said and waited for a reply, but it was silent, he could hear her breathing quickly "Michelle?"

"I'm… I'm sorry" she said trying to keep her voice calm and even "I don't even know what to say… I mean…."

"It's ok" he smiled knowing how happy he was making her, David was happy to do a good thing for people who he knew cared for him.

"Mr. President, I don't have words to thank you enough for this"

"He's a good man" David said simply "And I am happy to help the two of you, the way you have always done for me and for your country"

"When will this be happening?" she said keeping her words vague so that the other people in the room wouldn't understand what was going.

"Very soon, we will be in touch as things progress"

She could barely breathe through the huge rising lump in her throat "You have no idea how much this means to us, thank you"

"You have a great day Michelle" he smiled.

"Thanks to you sir, I will" she said hanging up the phone.

"What the hell is going on?" Joe asked.

Michelle knew she was about to break down "I need a minute" she said hurrying out of the room and running straight for her office which wasn't far. She threw the door closed behind her and collapsed into a chair. In less than two minutes she had just been given her life back. The love of her life, the chance of the future she always dreamt of, everything she wanted… in one phone call. It was the happiest phone call yet she could not stop crying. She picked up her cell phone and noticed her hand was shaking so badly she had a hard time dialing.

"Hello?"

Michelle was hysterical "I…." he took a sharp breath trying desperately to speak " umm" Michelle cursed herself for not calming down before calling.

"My God… Michelle? What's wrong?" Gina said quickly with fear.

"Gina…. He's… he's coming home" Michelle said quickly in between sharp breaths and sobs.

"What? Who?" Gina asked, not getting her hopes up.

"Tony… Gina… he's coming home" Michelle said with a small laugh.

"What? How? Oh my God!" Gina smiled in shock.

"The president's gonna pardon him… oh my god" Michelle cried.

"This is GREAT!" Gina said starting to cry "I have to call Mom, are you ok?"

"I will be" Michelle smiled wiping her eyes.

There was a knock at her door "I'll call you later" Michelle said hanging up.

Bill heard her unlock the door. When she opened the door he stopped. The small hairs around her face were curly from the moisture, her face was completely flush and her makeup was running. "What's going on? Are you ok?" he said with worry as a few people looked in and stopped what they were doing to watch.

"I need to get cleaned up" she said quickly turning toward the bathroom. She stopped and spun around and smiled the biggest smile he had ever seen "Tony's coming home!" she said heading off to the bathroom.

Bill stood in the doorway shocked. Joe walked up behind him "She's crying, yet I've never seen her so happy… what the hell is going on?"

Bill waved him into Michelle's office "They're releasing her husband" he said quietly "The president must be pardoning him"

"Oh… wow… well that explains it"

"She's gonna want to go back to Los Angeles" Bill said quietly as he realized how much he hated the idea of her leaving.

"Actually I have an opening there… well two openings… my Regional Director and Associate Special Agent had a problem so…" Joe cleared his throat "I'm sure I can work something out for her, she's a good asset"

"She is, but actually I would also be interested in one of those positions"

"You wanna move to LA?" Joe said surprised "Who's gonna run CTU Seattle?"

"I have been thinking about it for years, getting out of this state and heading somewhere warmer" Bill said.

"Well… I will look into that as well I guess, the two of you have done an outstanding job here and I'm willing to see what I can do" Joe shrugged his shoulders.

"What's going on?" Michelle asked as she walked in.

"How would you like to be our new Associate Special Agent in Charge-"

"Well actually-" Michelle began.

"-of _Division Los Angeles_" he finished.

"Division? Los- Oh my-" Her eyes lit up and she looked back and forth between the two of them as if to check that they weren't kidding "You have no idea how much I'd love that!"

"I'll make some phone calls and get back to you tomorrow" he said standing up "But for now I'm heading home"

"Thank you so much Mr. McLaughlin" Michelle smiled hugging him.

"You deserve it" he said turning to walk out the door, then he stopped "Oh" he smiled "And by the way…. Congratulations"

"You are gonna make me cry again and I just fixed my make up" she said carefully wiping away a tear.

"Ms. Dessler I have the LAPD on the phone for you"

"What?" she said walking over and snapping up the phone "This is Michelle Dessler speaking" everyone listened as they heard her side of the conversation "Yes Michelle Almeida as well… just now?" she asked and looked very confused "Ok… is she ok?" she said sitting down in her chair "Yes, can I speak with her?... ok… yes thank you" she said waiting "Mom? What are you doing?... no I didn't, I don't know maybe Gina changed it, what were you doing at the house?... No I'm in Seattle, why didn't you just call?" her expression softened and her eyes became glassy "Yea… yes he is, I just got the call… yea we're sure… yea President Palmer" she was never getting off the phone at this rate "I know, yes I thanked him many times… I voted for him too, yes… wh- I live here remember?... no no no I'm moving back, in fact I just got offered a job in LA… I know it's wonderful… I don't know I'm gonna work on that right now… yea so I gotta go… ok… yea I will… I know I'm sorry-" she stopped "Oh yea, ok, I will, bye" she said hanging up. She looked up at Bill "Sorry, my mother in law tried to get into my house but she didn't know the code… anyway, everything's ok"

He just stared at her with a small smile as everyone went back to what they were doing.

"What?" she said.

"It's just I've never seen you so happy" Bill said.

"This is nothing compared to how I used to be"

_(A few days later)_

"Well that's everything right?" Michelle said taking a box from Bill's hands and putting in the back seat of the Denali.

"Yea that's it"

"I'm gonna miss you" Michelle hugged him "It's been great working with you"

"Well, actually I might be seeing you very soon" Bill smiled and Michelle looked at him questioningly "I have an interview next week for Regional Director"

"In LA?" she asked.

"Yea" he smiled.

"That's great!" she smiled "I hope you get it" she said opening her door.

"Drive safe" he said as she got in "And if I don't see you, take care"

"I have a feeling you will" she smiled.

_(Later)_

"Where's my baby!" Michelle called as she opened the door to her home in LA. Garren came galloping up and tackled her barking excitedly "Oh, my baby boy, yes you _are_" she said allowing him to lick her face "I missed you too puppy" she smiled closing the door behind her.

She stood and winced at the number of messages on the answering machine, there was a lot to do before Tony came home and she couldn't wait to get started, hopefully she would be so busy that the time would pass quickly.

_(Later)_

Michelle felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, there was no way she was going to get any sleep. All she could think of was 'By this time tomorrow we will be sleeping together again, with our arms wrapped tight around each other, his head nuzzled into my hair and my face in his neck with my hand on his chest' It was the way they had _always_ slept. She couldn't wait to have that again.

_(The next day)_

Her heart stopped. There he was. In the same clothes he had been in that awful day. For the first time in months his wrists were free of handcuffs, but he didn't look happy or excited, he looked as though he were bored and tired. The tired she had expected, but she had expected him to be happy, but his expression was blank and she couldn't read it.

"He doesn't look happy" Michelle said.

"He will be once he sees you, I don't think he can see through the glass" Her father said.

Then finally, he was released as the officers indicated that he could go. A huge smile broke out across her face as she ran to him she saw him begin to smile too. She launched herself into his arms wrapping her legs around him as he held her tightly.

_Feel this  
Can you feel this  
My heart beating out of my chest  
Feel this  
Can you feel this  
Salvation, under my breath_

She pulled her head back as he slowly let her down and pulled his face to hers kissing him passionately.

His hands slid down to her hips and made space between them. He looked down and frowned then stepped back "Shouldn't you be showing by now?"

She was lost for a second her face was flush with emotion "Showing wh-"

And then she turned white as she felt her heart fall straight through her chest and shatter on the floor as he said "Aren't you pregnant?"


	110. Chapter 110 Syndicate

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _The Fray_)

~ Chapter 110 ~

"Thanks for coming along Dad" Michelle said out the window as they dropped him off in front of his house.

"Of course darling, I'll see ya later ok?" he said "And it's nice to have you back Tony" he said looking across to Tony who was silently staring out the window in the opposite direction. He glanced over and nodded then went back to looking out the window without saying a word.

Dan looked down at Michelle and she slowly shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Bye Dad" she said pulling away. As they drove down the road she glanced over at Tony who was still silently staring out the window. She let him have his silence until they pulled into the garage and she turned off the car "You okay honey?" she asked quietly.

"No, I'm not okay"

Michelle was slightly taken aback at his bitter tone "Is this about…" she wasn't sure how to describe the situation.

"About the child I've been dreaming of every night for months? The one I was so sure I was coming home to? Ya know… the one that doesn't exist… yea it has something to do with that…" he said sarcastically, continuing to stare out the window.

"I'm _sorry_ Tony I never meant for you to think I was-"

"It _killed_ me to keep the operation at work from you for the few weeks I had to, to protect you… but I _had_ to do that…" he looked her in the eyes now, his eyes were bloodshot and full of hurt "The way you looked at me when you found out I had been keeping something from you… that has haunted me and I have felt terrible for ever misleading you about some mission at work… but this" he looked away "You made me think I had a _baby_…. Michelle ever since I've met you that's been my _dream_ and to _lie_ to me about that? I thought that by now I had earned your honesty" he said unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door.

She was in tears now as he got out of the car "Tony I don't know what to say…"

"Nothing you can say will change it so it doesn't matter" he said in an unforgiving tone as he slammed the door closed and went into the house.

Michelle had never seen him like this, so cold and detached from her and it scared the hell out of her. This wasn't her husband, this wasn't the man she expected to bring home… none of this was how she expected it to be. As she sat in the SUV crying she thought about how she had expected this day to go…

_The officer slowly slid the cuffs of his wrists. He looked up and a bright smile spread across his face as he started toward her and she ran to him. They hit each other hard and wrapped their arms tight around each other. He cupped her face in his hands "Let's go home" he smiled kissing her. He wrapped his arms around her and opened the passenger door for her. She got in and waited for him to come around and get in. When he did he looked over and smiled at her "God, I missed you"_

"_I missed you so much" she said with tears in her eyes and he pulled her close. _

_He kissed the top of her forehead "I'm here now" he smiled "And I'm never going anywhere again"_

_She had expected they'd spend the night making love and healing from all the pain and agony they had both endured, becoming one again and making way for a beautiful future._

This brought a fresh round of tears. She couldn't wrap her head around this idea of Tony hating her… while she knew he didn't actually _hate_ her, it sure felt like it because as far as Michelle could remember Tony had _never_ been angry at her, so this was all unfamiliar and she had no idea what to do or how to approach this new version of Tony. She just wished things could be the way she thought they would and he would hold her and make her feel normal again. She got out of the car and walked into the house. Garren ran up and jumped on her. She caught him and almost toppled over, she was beginning to realize that she was nowhere near as strong as she used to be. She gripped the table to steady herself then let him down "I know Garr" she turned around and opened the door so he could go outside.

She walked out of the kitchen and called "Tony?" She walked up the stairs and noticed the guest room door was open. She looked inside and Tony was lying in the bed "What are you doing?" she asked softly.

"Sleeping… or at least trying to sleep"

"You just got released, don't you wanna go out or get something to eat or watch a movie?" she offered.

"I want to sleep" he said grumpily.

She nodded slowly; maybe he was tired "Why don't you come to _our_ bed"

"Please just let me sleep!" he said getting tired of going round and round with her. She shuddered; she couldn't believe how angry he was. She turned slowly "And close the door" he mumbled and she complied.

She didn't understand this. Sure, what she did was wrong… and she hadn't even realized how excited he had gotten about the baby and now she felt terrible about leading him on, she had never meant to lie, she was just doing what she thought was best for him… a pang of guilt hit her when she remembered what he had said 'The way you looked at me when you found out I had been keeping something from you… that has haunted me' she began to cry. He was too perfect… he had saved her life, given up his freedom, his career, his dreams and would have gladly given his life and after all that he had sat in a jail cell day and night feeling bad for a few white lies meant to protect her…and now she had done _this_ to him.

He was certainly right to be angry at her, but still…. He had _never_ been angry at her… no matter what she did he had always been patient and understanding, he had never completely shut her out like this… either there was more to this or he had changed.

Or maybe it was both.

Michelle pulled herself off the couch an hour later and as she walked toward the kitchen caught a glimpse of herself and flinched. Her hair was messy, her eyes were bloodshot from crying, her nose was running and her face was flush with her makeup all over the place. She sighed and headed into the bathroom to clean up. When she was done she sat at the table and made tea. She was exhausted and wanted _real_ sleep. Not the 2 hours a night she collapsed and had nightmares, _real_ sleep, the kind where she drifted off, felt safe, slept soundly for hours and hours and woke up refreshed… but she couldn't get that kind of sleep without Tony. She didn't care if it was only 6PM she was tired.

….

"Tony?" she said softly. If anyone _ever_ woke him up while he was asleep he was always angry, except if it was her… this time it didn't matter.

"What!" he snarled "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

"I know you're tired, but so am I… I haven't slept right in almost-" she was about to tell him how long it had been since they last slept together.

He cut her off "YOU haven't slept well?" he sat up "Excuse me _princess_ but aren't you the one who has been sleeping in a ten thousand dollar bed for the past several months while I've been sleeping on something similar to cardboard?"

"_Tony!_" she cried out. She had no idea what was going on with him. He had built up such high walls she had no idea what to do all she knew was the walls had to come down, she had to invade his space, even if he hated it, even if he pushed back….and knowing him, he would. She took a deep breath and climbed into the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"What I have been dreaming of doing for months" she said pushing herself close to him and pulling his arm around her "I know my husband is in there somewhere"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't know why you are acting this way, but I love you and I'm not going anywhere"

_Halfway around the world  
Lies the one thing that you want  
Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down  
First thing that arises in your mind while you awake  
Is bending you til you break  
Let me hold you now_

Don't know what your made of  
Til the one thing that you want  
To come in with the dawn and suddenly changes  
Monday, syndicate meets everyone the same  
But all we've lost to the flame  
Listen to me now

Baby close your eyes  
Don't open til the morning light  
Don't ever forget  
We haven't lost it all yet  
All we know for sure  
Is all that we are fighting for  
Baby don't forget  
We haven't lost it all yet

Someday when this is over  
We may still have no answer  
For now it's when I hold ya  
We are closer, we are closer  
We are closer, we are closer

Something hadn't felt right about the entire day. Tony coming home was surreal and the fact that he was acting like a completely different person made it worse, this is why when Michelle woke up and he wasn't next to her she began to panic. It must have been a dream. But then why was she in the guest room? She pulled herself off the bed and grabbed her robe. She opened the door and listened downstairs. She could hear the sound of the television which made her both happy and sad… happy that he was home and sad that he had left her in a cold bed instead of staying with her the way he always used to. She looked at the clock '6:45am' she read and then cautiously entered the room behind him "Good morning" she tried "Are you hungry?"

"What? Like you're gonna make me breakfast?"

She wasn't sure if that was a joke or an insult… she wanted it to be a joke but his tone was dark.

"Tony we need to talk" she said moving closer, hesitating to sit next to him… wow… 24 hours ago she couldn't wait to be in his arms and now she wasn't sure she wanted to even sit next to him. She sat on the same couch as him, but left space between them and turned to him. He was avoiding her stare; keeping his eyes on the television "Baby…" she said softly seeing that the word cut right through him "Look at me"

She saw his face beginning to crumple as he tried to hold it together. He looked over to her "I can't do this anymore" he began to cry.

Michelle took this as her cue; she closed the space between them and pulled his head down to her shoulder "Just tell me what's going on Sweetheart" she whispered softly into his ear.

"I guess there's just…just so much" he breathed "I don't know" he breathed "I don't ….know" and she could tell he was getting more upset.

"If you don't wanna talk that's ok too" she said.

"Ok" he said sniffing. She held him and slowly laid back on the couch bringing him with her. For many minutes he cried into her neck and she stroked his head. After a few minutes his crying slowed and he pulled his face out of her neck and lay his head on her chest. She could hear his ragged breathing become more normal as he took one of her hands and wrapped it with his putting up to his face like a pillow, his face was wet and hot "I missed you" he said finally in a soft voice that she finally recognized.

A small sob escaped her and he turned and looked up to see tears filling her eyes "What?" he said turning over so they were facing each other.

"I'm just… I'm really glad you said that" she let out a nervous laugh trying to stop herself from crying and failing.

"What do you mean? You don't think I missed you?" he asked.

"I didn't know what you felt anymore… you were acting so different… I was afraid…"

"I love you" he cut her off "I love you more than anything in this world… I wouldn't have gone to prison if I didn't… of course I missed you"

"You didn't even want me visiting" she said sadly.

"It was the hardest thing ever to be away from you all the time… but what was even harder was getting a good look at exactly what I was missing out on _every single day_, you just reminded me of how beautiful my life could have been…. And what's worse is it was tearing you apart…" he stroked her face.

"What tore me apart most was not seeing you" she said as he caught a tear running down her face.

"Trust me, you didn't want to see me" Tony said remembering what prison had turned him into and hating the thought of Michelle ever seeing him like that… jail had been the worst time of his life… he despised the things that happened there… in fact, he wanted out of this conversation already.

"What happened?" she asked, going exactly where he didn't want to go and she knew it.

"I don't want to-" he started.

"Tony-" she began to argue.

"Michelle" he warned.

She gave a small nod and looked away. She looked down then slowly brought her eyes up to his "You left the bed this morning"

"Yea I couldn't sleep" he said flatly.

She tipped her head to the side "Tony" she said softly with tears still in her eyes "I have had way too many terrible mornings where I wake up without you" he stroked her face as she continued "I can't take any more"

"Come on" he said taking her hand and lifting her off the couch. He led her up the stairs and she silently prayed he wouldn't take her back to the guest room, she so badly wanted to be with him in _their_ bed. When they got to the top of the stairs he walked straight to the bedroom without even glancing into the guest room. As they stepped into the room they both instantly felt an urgency that had been building for months, he spun around to face her and they fell into each other's arms kissing each other passionately. His hands stroked her hair while she hung from his shoulders as they slowly fell backward onto the bed. She didn't need to do anything to turn him on, just being so close to her and feeling her open beneath him was all he needed, he had never wanted her so bad before and she had never missed him this much. Neither could get close enough, but as he plunged deeper and deeper into her they finally began to feel the connection they had for months been longing for.

A few hours later Michelle slowly opened her eyes from the best sleep she had gotten in what seemed like forever. She looked over at Tony who was only an inch away from her and studied his face. Somehow he still looked harder, colder than he used to… she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was about him, but he seemed different… it tugged at her that she still had no idea what had gone on in prison that seemed to haunt him. She wished he would tell her, just as she thought this he opened his eyes "Hey" he said in a hoarse, tired voice.

"Hi Sweetheart, how'd you sleep?" she asked stroking his face.

"Great" he smiled "I missed this" he said pushing a curl out of her face.

"Me too" she smiled as she felt round two coming. She stopped herself as she felt him shift his weight and roll on top of her "Wait…Tony" she said putting her hand on his chest.

"Yea baby?" he asked.

"What happened in prison?" she asked and his smile faded "I wanna know" she said softly.

He rolled off her and sighed looking up at the ceiling "Michelle I thought we've been through this"

"Last night you were upset and I didn't want to push you, but I want you to talk to me about it" she said laying on her side facing him.

"You should know by now not to try and force me to talk when I don't want to"

"You should know by now not to keep things from me" she countered.

His head spun to looked at her, his expression was surprise and anger "Really? I can't _believe_ you just said that" he said getting out of the bed and grabbing his shorts.

"Tony wait" she sat up holding the sheet to her chest "I wasn't trying to make you angry"

"Coulda fooled me" he shook his head in anger as he walked out.

"Tony" she called but his response was the sound of the guest door slamming closed "Tony!" she yelled reaching for her robe and running down the hall. She tried to the door, but it was locked "Tony" she began to cry "Tony I'm sorry" she said with her hand and forehead on the door. A few seconds of silence passed "Tony please" she said. She sunk to her knees "I'm sorry… I told you that you didn't have to talk… and you don't… if you're not ready… it's ok… I won't push anymore I promise if you just please open the door Tony" she begged. It was silent and she cried… a few hours ago she thought everything was back to normal, it wasn't. She had messed it all up.

Then she heard a click and the door opened.


	111. Chapter 111 Lucky Me

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

Heyy everyone:) Thanks for the reviews, they really keep me going! I know this time period is tough and that's exactly why it's been taking longer to update, it's pretty hard to tear apart something so perfect, luckily, I wrote many pieces of this time period a long time ago so a few chapters coming up have already been written and will be posted much faster. As far as the sadness goes I know it's terrible, but I can't bring myself to skip it and the worst is yet to come:( Just hang in there! I'll try to push through it as quickly as I can! I've condensed some storylines so as you will see we will be moving forward through weeks in this chapter (so watch the transitions) to speed up the sadness :/

~ Chapter 111 ~

"Tony! I'm home!" Michelle said, walking in the door. Garren walked up and licked her. "Tony?"

He appeared a few feet away from her "I'm right here."

"Oh hey," she smiled, trying to get him to do the same, "you ready?"

"Been ready since eight"

She looked up at the clock '8:41' and sighed "I'm sorry I got out of work as soon as I could"

"Right" he said sadly and she could tell he was annoyed as he picked up his phone and wallet. He had been waiting all day to go out with her, she was the only thing he had left and she was _always _late, he felt like she didn't care much and her new job held most of her attention lately. He had been sitting in the kitchen watching the clock for over an hour waiting for her to walk through the door.

"Tony I am _sorry_, but it really wasn't under my control, you understand how these things go." He didn't look up at her "You should know that you are never home on-time with this job no matter how much you want to be."

"Yea I do, what _you_ don't seem to understand is that I sit here _all_ day in this house doing _nothing_… wanna hear about my day?" he snapped "I slept as late as possible to kill time, ate breakfast alone, watched SpongeBob, took a shower, watched Divorce court, took a nap, counted my DVDs for the third time this week, all 256 of which I am tired of-"

"So _do something!_" she begged "Tony you can do anything you put your mind to… so maybe it's not CTU or whatever, you're a smart guy, we are not hard-up for money… do something, anything."

"You think anyone will hire a traitor?" he asked, not angry anymore.

"I think that you have been your worst enemy lately and you have to give it a try… what's the worst that could happen?" Michelle continued.

He fell silent, deep in thought. Somewhere in the heart, Michelle breathed a sigh of relief that for once, she had gotten through to him… he had been so caged and guarded that she never got to talk to him about how much he was hurting, but in at least one small way, she did today.

_(2 weeks later)_

"Sweetheart?" Michelle said walking into the house. She looked up at the clock: '7:55'. She was proud of herself. "Tony?" she said walking into the living room. She stopped and shuddered when she saw the living room. His awards from work were in the fire place, the TV was blaring and an empty six-pack sat on the table. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She walked over next to the couch, he was fast asleep and he wore a look of defeat. He had been so down lately… he snapped at her a lot, but she knew he was just frustrated so she tried not to take it to heart. It had been 2 months since she had asked about what happened in jail and he still hadn't told her and she could see it eating away at him. He was past depression and she wished he would just let her in. She shut off the TV and knelt next to him "Baby" she stroked his face and kissed his cheek. This was her most intimate time with him. He was a light sleeper, but for some reason her kiss hadn't stirred him 'Must be the alcohol' she thought sadly. She had never seen him drink this much… Not since…

_Tony pushed harder and Michelle was losing her grip on him. They were in the dark shadow of the house and when they got close enough Tony took a swing and instead of hitting Pete his fist hit Michelle on the side of the face near the bottom of her jaw. He stopped instantly and looked as if he had just been frozen._

"_It's ok" Michelle blurted out quickly knowing how terrible he must feel "It's ok"_

Tony had been so upset that night, he was so horrified at what he'd done he hadn't had a drink since. He had never said it, but she had assumed he had silently vowed never to drink again. She gently laid down with him, she laid her land on the side of his face and pulled her face close to his so their noses were touching, she missed being this close to him so much that she ignored the smell of alcohol. She closed her eyes and thought back to what had happened the next day…

"_Michelle" he began to apologize._

"_It's over" she said and smiled "It's over, we're ok"_

"_I wasn't myself last night" he said "But I'm me now, completely sober and aware and I'm telling you Michelle that I am so sorry I let myself get out of hand and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving me through it"_

"_I'll love you through anything" she said._

She sighed, she knew together they could survive anything, but these days he felt detached from her. She could see he was in so much pain and wished she could help him, but he refused to let her, so she had to just watch, which was the worst thing ever. She was sure she would love him through anything; the question was how painful it would be.

"Tony" she said slightly shaking his shoulder. "Wanna come up to bed honey?"

He shook and his eyes flew open in fear, but after his eyes darted around he realized where he was his fear turned to grumpiness "What?" he grumbled.

"You fell asleep, honey" she touched his face and he flinched "I wanted to help you up to bed."

"I'm fine here," he said and turned over.

"You're not coming up at all?" she asked with disappointment.

"No I am sleeping here," he yawned.

Michelle sighed, this was not the first night he had done this, it was becoming a habit she detested. Although he didn't act like it, they _were_ married and belonged together in their bed, she hated it when he slept elsewhere, it reminded of her of when her parents used to fight. She silently walked upstairs and felt utterly alone. It wasn't even 9 o'clock and her house was silent and felt empty… where was Garren? She stood quickly, she hadn't seen him at all, he hadn't greeted her as usual. She ran downstairs "Garren?" she tried outside "GarGar?" she called. She ran back up the stairs "Here buddy, Garren?" she called. She ran down the stairs and into the living room "Tony!" she said hurrying to his side shaking his arm. "Tony, where's Garren? I can't find him."

He opened one eye and muttered, "I let him out."

She frowned and went back to the door "Garren!" she called as she walked out the door and looked around the yard. She walked around the side and stopped when she saw a huge branch had fallen and damaged the fence leaving a hole big enough for Garren to jump through. Her heart sunk, he was gone. She walked through the gate and typed the code in to open the garage. She hopped in the Denali and started the engine. She pulled out and began checking the streets.

15 minutes later she spotted him chewing on a tire swing at the playground. She jumped out of the car "Garren!" she called. The dog looked up and skipped over, licking her when he got to her "Oh thank God!" she said hugging him "Get in," she ordered and he jumped into the SUV.

A few minutes later they walked into the house. Michelle was still winded from the scare and normally she'd wake Tony to talk to him, but these days she knew she'd have her head bitten off if she tried. She missed the days that he was grumpy when woken, unless it was her - and as soon as he realized it was her, the grumpiness would melt away.

_(The next morning)_

Michelle was awake early getting ready for work. She really wanted to talk to Tony before leaving to let him know about the fence. He wasn't awake, so she got dressed hoping he'd wake up before it was time for her to leave. Once she was all ready to go she sighed and walked over to where he was. She patted his back and whispered his name. He started to move and she bit her lip nervously, "Tony?"

"What?" he said, still half-asleep. She smelled alcohol heavy on his breath and knew thathe was really drunk. He must have been out all night. This worried and slightly angered her. She knew he was having trouble sleeping, but to just leave in the middle of the night to go drinking? She calmed herself, she didn't want to fight with him, especially not while he was drunk.

"Garren ran away yesterday… I was really scared, but I found him," she said softly "He got out through a hole in the fence, could you fix it today?"

"Got nothing better to do" he grumbled.

She sat for a moment silently "Thanks, I'll see you at dinner" she said kissing his head.

As she began to walk away she heard him grumble, "Yea whenever that is."

She tried to be patient as she said, "I'll try to be home by 7 tonight"

"I won't hold my breath."

"Ya know," she said, slightly annoyed "I do my best for you."

"Yea and look how good it's turned out," he said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"You're blaming _this_ on me?" she asked, raising her voice unintentionally.

"Of course not," he replied sarcastically "After all you had nothing to do with it."

"I _cannot_ believe you!" She yelled and stormed out.

_(20 minutes later)_

"Do you know if we get paid early this week?" Jason asked Claire "Ya know… because of the holiday."

"I don't know you can ask Ms. Dessler when she gets here."

"Oh here she comes" Jason said spotting Michelle.

"No wait-" Claire whispered trying to stop him but he was already halfway to Michelle.

"Good morning Ms. Dessler, I was wondering, about our paychecks this week-"

"Really?" she snapped. "Can I get in the door? Can you give me 5 minutes?"

"Oh… I'm, I'm sorry," he stammered.

Michelle softened a little "It's okay just," she sighed, "ive me a couple minutes to get settled."

"Yea sure… no problem," he nodded heading back to Claire "Thanks a lot" he said when he got to her desk.

"Oh come on, you've been working here long enough… you should know never to bother her when she first gets here or when she's on the phone with her husband… that's when she's on edge."

"Why?" He asked, wanting to know more about his boss, the woman who hardly ever spoke about her personal life.

"Don't you know who she's married to?" Claire asked.

"No" he responded blankly.

She raised her eyebrows "Google 'Tony Almeida'"

_(2 weeks later)_

Michelle pulled into the driveway and two things stopped her.

One. Garren trotting down the driveway to greet her. 'Guess the hole is not fixed…._again,_' she thought to herself.

Two. A blue Jeep Cherokee in the driveway. She would guess a visitor, but A. No one visits them anymore, and B. It had temporary license plates in the back window, showing that it was newly bought. She had known they needed another vehicle since she had given the Jetta to Gina and she was planning on getting him one for his birthday, but it seemed as though he had beaten her to it.

"Tony?" she called as she walked in.

"What?" he answered from the couch.

"Garren was out front" she said. She received no answer. "Tony?"

"Yea, ok," His reply was curt as he was focused on the television.

"Tony one of these days he's gonna go and I'm not gonna be able to find him," she said sadly, begging him to care.

"Well whatever, he should know not to leave the fence… now please I wanna hear this," he said, brushing her off.

"Yea the dog should know better, do you hear yourself?" she said and he ignored her. She sighed angrily and went into the kitchen. She was so angry, so frustrated, she had asked him to do _one_ thing and for weeks he's been saying he'd do it. She would just do it herself if she had the time… she had tried blocking it with patio furniture but Garren, who was probably tired of being ignored, pushed through. She should just order a new fence… she looked up as he walked over to the fridge taking out a beer.

"What are you doin' tonight?" he said popping the cap off.

She glared at him in disbelief that he really _didn't_ care about the fence and found it ok to blow her off, she didn't want to fight with him, but this was ridiculous. "I have a conference," she said trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Skip it."

"I can't, I'm running it… I am the one speaking, I can't just not show up"

"Oh yea that's right, you're on top now…. You're so _lucky_ you got to keep your job"

"Yea real _lucky_… I would settle for staying home if my husband didn't ignore me"

"Oh so now I ignore you?" he said taking a drink.

"Been telling you about the fence for weeks."

"Oh would you stop about the fence already? I will fix it… I will," he stopped and put the bottle down. "But right now I'm going out."

"Really? You're going drinking?" she accused.

"I'm going out to _relax._"

"It's still early, why aren't you out interviewing?" she asked.

"No one's gonna hire me! I tried for weeks, _forget_ it!" he yelled, unable to control himself. He was frustrated beyond belief about not being able to get a job… the only thing that killed him more was seeing the disappointment in her eyes… and yet there it was...

"There _is_ a job for you out there," she said.

"Yea? Well when you find it let me know," he said walking out the front door. She held her breath as she heard him speed off down the road, he needed a job… she couldn't take much more of this. Every conversation with him broke her heart. The tortured look in his eyes, the way he snapped every time she tried to talk to him about his pain, the way he kept his distance from her… she couldn't stand it anymore.

_(That night)_

"2 minutes Michelle," Brian said ducking into the room.

"Ok," she said, quickly pulling down her shirt.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine thank you," she said dismissively. He didn't believe her but he left her alone anyway.

She spun around and closed her eyes trying to focus on her speech but all she saw was Tony. The beaten down look in his eyes, his frustrated voice... no. No she had to stop thinking about him... it was the hardest thing when all she needed was him. All she need was for him to walk through that door and hold her and tell her he loved her... she could go out and make an award-winning speech if that happened... but now, the reality was he wouldn't walk through that door... the reality was that she was completely broken and was in no condition to be making a speech.

_I just sit here saying  
Lucky Me  
I've got to pose of the cameras  
Even when my worlds falling down  
I still wear a smile  
Lucky Me  
Even though I'm so damaged  
I've got to pick myself up  
And perform for the crowd  
Lucky Me  
_

_(A few days later)_

'Super Chunky' the bottle read. Michelle scrutinized the peanut butter then decided to put it back, as she picked up another, the first fell off the shelf and rolled away from her. A tall man dressed professionally snatched it up and handed it to her smiling, but she didn't pay much attention, she was distracted as usual, until he caught her arm and turned her back toward him.

"Michelle Dessler?" he said in slight disbelief, searching her face.

"Jeff Falley," she said as she recognized him.

"Oh my-" he smiled "I didn't even recognize you at first," he said, pulling her in for a hug. "You look so different from when I last saw you."

"Which was?" she tried to remember.

"That barbeque two summers ago… then the news…" his smile faded and so did hers.

She nodded "It's been a long time"

"I've missed seeing you… you were one of my best friends all throughout college… you should come over sometime"

"Your wife wouldn't appreciate that," Michelle said, remembering that Jeff's wife was totally the jealous type, even though there had never been absolutely _anything _going on between her and Jeff, for some reason his wife still would be on edge whenever Michelle was around, even if she brought Tony.

"Ah she'll be fine and I'd love to catch up… how is everything" he hesitated "With your husband being gone?"

"Actually he's home now, he was pardoned," Michelle said.

"No way!" Jeff smiled "That's awesome!" he said enthusiastically, but it died quickly when he noticed Michelle was not smiling. "Is everything ok?"

Michelle looked away "He's just… he's uh, really frustrated…" Jeff could tell she was talking around something. "He can't seem to find a job and so he's… really frustrated"

"Oh because of…" he stopped mid-sentence and thought for a second then looked up "Well look, I can get him something at the company I work for, I'm pretty high up so it won't be much trouble… I can guarantee him a job, but it probably won't be anything glamorous...especially not right away… but-"

She threw her arms around him before he could finish his sentence. "Really? Thank you so much!"

"Hey I would have never survived half those classes without your help, I totally owe you," he smiled as his phone began to ring. He looked at it. "My wife," he explained "It was great seeing you! I'll talk to you soon!" he waved.

Michelle rushed home as quickly as she could and as soon as she got in the door she couldn't wait to tell him the good news. "Tony!" she called.

She ran into the living room and saw him slumped on the couch watching soccer. He looked up and registered her excitement. "What?" he asked, sounding uninterested.

"You just got a job at a security company!" Michelle couldn't stop smiling.

"What do you mean?"

"I ran into my friend Jeff from college at the grocery store and he said he could get you a job at the company he works for."

"Thanks," he said. While it seemed exciting, he didn't want to get his hopes up. He also really didn't like that he was being treated like a charity case… he knew she meant well, but this was really something he had wanted to do himself…. He was a man, he could find his own job, he didn't need his wife to do it for him… but he wouldn't let her down… he'd at least give it a try.

"Aren't you excited?" She said, her smile fading at her husband's lack of interest or enthusiasm..

"Yea," he said simply. "It sounds great" he said unconvincingly.

She stood there as he went back to watching TV… she had been sure the only way to get her real husband back was to get him a job so he could finally feel normal… but now it didn't look too promising. She flopped onto her bed and sighed. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. The man who made her life worth living was drowning himself in alcohol and no matter what she did his walls were too high for her to break through and these days….unless he was asleep… she was afraid to get that close.

_(The next week)_

Michelle pulled into the driveway after work and turned off the engine. She dropped her head back against the headrest and sighed. This past week had been an unending string of arguments between her and Tony over the most insignificant things. Things so trivial thatwere never even given any thought before that horrible fiasco of a day. She felt like she was at the end of her rope and today would decide if things would get better or not. It was his first day at his job and she hoped with everything she had that getting out of the house and going to work would make him better, because if not, she was out of ideas. She remembered days when the thought of him gave her butterflies and her heart pounded faster… now the thought of him made her heart ache. She took a deep breath and hoped for the best while preparing for the worst. Something caught her eye in the rearview mirror. Garren. Across the street in someone's flowers. She took a deep breath, trying not to be angry. She stepped out of the car and called his name. He perked up and ran over licking her. "Inside," she instructed.

She walked into the house and decided not to say anything about Garren. She walked into the living room and Tony wasn't there. She checked the garage and his car wasn't there either. Her heart sank, she knew where he was. She spun around and went right back out to her car. If she was right about where he was, then all hope was lost. She pulled up to the bar and there his car was. Perfect. A tear slipped out of her eye and she wiped it away angrily.

She walked in and spotted him in the corner, sitting with a girl with dark hair. She walked up behind him and the girl noticed her as she looked up, but then looked back down to Tony.

"Ya know? It was the worst shit I ever went through…. And now I'm supposed to clean toilets? Forget it."

The woman looked up again as Michelle stood there, she was way too well dressed to be in the bar. Tony noticed the girl looking away and turned around, he seemed startled when he saw Michelle. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone not angry, but not friendly either.

"Come home." Michelle said with her jaw clenched tightly. Her heart was filled with a myriad of conflicting emotions: anger, frustration, sadness, and even guilt. However unfounded and irrational, she still couldn't help but blame herself sometimes.

It was clear to him that she was about to lose it so he kept his temper in check, not wanting to push her to her breaking point in public. He tried being nice. "Michelle, this is my friend-"

"I don't care," she cut him off. "Come home," she repeated with a slightly shaky voice.

"Is something wrong?"

"Everything is wrong."


	112. Chapter 112 Downpour

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Backstreet Boys_)

Ok brace yourselves… this is probably the worst of all… I promise I'm hurrying to get back to the happiness that you all can't wait for. This chapter was originally planned while I was writing Chapter 39, and it was planned to be a _lot_ sadder, but this is all hard enough, so I changed it a little to make it not as sad. Hang in there:)

Also, a special thanks to my editor Charissa Yee who has been such a big help getting these past few chapters up!

~ Chapter 112 ~

"I swear she hasn't spoken once all day." Claire whispered.

"This is day five now," Janet said. "She's like a freakin zombie!" Janet was one of the older women working there and she was very worried about her boss's sudden change.

"I wonder what the hell happened to her…"

'_6.8' Michelle calculated in her mind. It was all she could do to prevent herself from having a nervous breakdown, because it had been 6.8 hours since she'd last seen him. If she was completely honest, it had been months since she seen him. It had been 6.8 hours since she had seen the drunken mess that was left of him. _

"_Fine, I'll meet you at home," he had sighed impatiently. When she didn't move he had grown even more impatient and waved her away, saying, "I'll be right behind you, just go." He wanted her out of there immediately. This perfect woman standing in the middle of that awful place was just a display to all of the people there of how insufficient he was, because as they looked between him…the obvious loser… and her… the epitome of what any man would dream of packaged with forgiveness, passion and for some reason loyalty… they were all astounded that she wasn't handing him divorce papers the way any other woman would have done. As far as Tony was concerned, the looks on their faces only solidified what he had known since he stepped out of jail, he no longer deserved her._

_She had looked in his eyes trying desperately for some sort of clue as to why he was acting this way and all she saw was pain. She didn't remember driving home, but since she had walked into the house, every single moment took hours and she had been back and forth between sadness, panic and worry so many times that they had all become scrambled into anger. He was drunk, that much was for sure, but he knew what he said, which made it a lie… and after 6.8 hours of staring at the front door crying, Michelle had lost patience, somewhere he had to know she would be worried, he had to know she'd be waiting, the more she thought about it as the moments crawled by the more fiery her anger became._

_When he finally did stumble in the door after 1AM he was greeted by something thrown in his direction. She clearly hadn't been aiming for him, because if that were the case, she would have hit him. He froze, even as hammered as he was, he knew something was seriously wrong because Michelle NEVER lost her temper._

"_What the-"he started._

"_This has got to end!" she cried, screaming. She had reached the end of her rope a long time ago. She had been patient with him for so long. Even when he yelled and screamed, even when he came home drunk at 3AM, she had always tried to help, tried to talk to him, tried giving him space only to watch him get worse in return. Every moment of it had been killing her, breaking her heart and she couldn't bear another minute of it, and to her, it seemed like he didn't even care._

_He knew her voice and he had never heard such vehement anger come from her. "Michelle-"_

"_I can't Tony," her anger broke into sobs that shook her entire body and it chilled him to the core to see her so broken "I- I can't-"_

_It had never been more clear to him than now… in his drunken state he could see. He had officially destroyed her. She was everything he loved about life, she had always been the best part of him, he had known for months she didn't deserve this, he should have ended this before she got hurt…like this "Miche-"_

"_I CAN'T live like this Tony," she begged._

"_You're right… you shouldn't stay," he said quietly, but she hadn't missed a single word._

_The room suddenly fell silent, her sobs froze, her entire body froze. The words couldn't possibly have been what she thought. After a moment she found her shaky voice. "What?"_

"_You should go" he said, knowing with drunken certainty that he was right. The next thing she heard was him slamming the guest bedroom door._

Tony awoke the next morning remembering absolutely nothing past Michelle showing up in the bar. He didn't recall telling her to go home. He didn't recall the hours he had spent telling anyone who would listen what a loser he was and how he didn't deserve his wife. How her presence only intensified his self-loathing as she reminded him of the man he used to be. He also didn't recall the events that took place when he came home. He was beginning to wonder why she hadn't tried talking to him in almost a week. He bitterly had assumed she was busy with work…but after the first few days he could tell that that wasn't it. She wouldn't come home until he was drunk and was gone before he awoke. He could tell she had been home be the scent of her perfume and coffee in the kitchen. He decided he would stay up until she got home that night to find out what the problem was, but with each beer he grabbed from the fridge, that thought became more and more distant.

_I been walking around  
Inside a haze  
Between the lines of reason  
Hiding from the ghost  
Of yesterday  
Feels like I'm barely breathing_

I-I wanna feel the rain again  
I-I wanna feel the water on my skin  
And let it all just wash away  
In a downpour  
I wanna feel the rain  
Feel the rain  


_(Later)_

Michelle sat silently in the Denali. She normally arrived home around 8. Tony normally passed out about 8:30, so lately Michelle had been arriving home around 9. In the meantime she would sit in the car, waiting silently, 2 blocks away from the house. The house that was meant to be their home, but recently it didn't seem like they shared it, and it certainly wasn't the warm place it had used to be. Her heart was so broken she was sure she hadn't felt it beating in almost a week. She stared blankly out the window at the wet street waiting for 9PM to come. She didn't want to have any chance of seeing Tony awake, he hurt her way too much and she was way past her breaking point, she wasn't sure how much more she could handle, but she didn't want to find out.

She looked down at the clock. '9:04,' she dropped her head onto the steering wheel. She didn't want to go home, she didn't want to move, she didn't want to do anything. After a minute she sighed and started the SUV. The car lit up and she saw a group of people at the end of her street. She cautiously pulled into the street and rolled up. They were all standing around something she couldn't see. Then she looked up and noticed a group of people knocking on her door and looking in her window.

"What the-" as her headlights lit up the street, the crowd looked up and ran toward the car. As they came toward her and the circle broke up she saw what they were huddling around.

Garren.

He was lying on his side motionless.

She couldn't feel any part of her body, but somehow she was suddenly beside him. He had been hit by a car. She checked and still heard him breathing faintly. "Your husband," one of her neighbors said breathlessly, "he's home but he's not answering the door," she explained.

Michelle carefully lifted Garren. "Open it," she ordered as she struggled under his heavy body. She gently placed him into the back "Hold on baby," she whispered as she finally realized tears were pouring down her face.

"Do you need help?" someone called.

"No… thank you," she said as sincerely as possible as she jumped into the Denali and did something she never usually did. She pushed a button and sirens blared from the Denali as her headlights flashed and red and blue lights lit the front and back of the car. Her neighbors shook and scrambled out of the way.

When she reached the animal hospital everyone was curiously looking through the window obviously confused about what was going on until they saw her pull Garren from the car. Their expressions turned to panic as they all grabbed triage equipment and pulled him away from her "We'll take him from here… uh officer?"

"Michelle Dessler, help him!" she pointed to the people carrying Garren away.

She spun and ran her hand through her hair then covered her face as she cried. She removed her hands and ran back to the SUV. She turned off the sirens and pulled her phone out, dialing her house number rapidly.

No answer.

She became angry. She dialed his cell.

"Yea?" he answered, she could hear a lot of noise in the background, he was clearly somewhere public.

"Garren's been hit by a car!" she blurted out as the background noise fainted "Tony?" she looked at the phone, they were still connected "Tony did you hear-" a beep in her ear told her the phone call had just ended.

"Was he on his way?" she knew the old Tony would be…. The old Tony would be flying here as fast as possible to comfort her and help Garren… but let's face it…she was pretty sure he wasn't coming and sadly, she _knew_ the old Tony wasn't coming.

The old Tony was trapped and in pain and she had no idea how to bring him back… if he still existed.

"Ma'am?" a vet assistant called her from the door.

She had paper work to fill out she remembered, "I'm coming"

_(Later)_

3 surgeries later Garren lay on a towel, still asleep from the medication. Michelle had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt she kept in the car during the second surgery. She laid beside him on the floor stroking his muzzle "My baby," she whispered softly to him "you can do it buddy, you can" she encouraged as tears welled up in her eyes "You're a good boy GarGar" He lazily opened one eye and she smiled weakly at him, kissing his nose "That's my boy"

_(Later that morning)_

Michelle paced back and forth in the lobby. She was gonna call out today and stay with Garren, but the vet had insisted she take a break and today was an important day at work. Bill was finally filling Hammond's post. They had known for months the job was his, but with these things it was always better if the transition was done slowly. She thought back to Garren and she wondered how he was doing. She dialed the vet's office and asked.

"He's a tough boy, he's doing very well"

"Can he stand?" Michelle asked, her voice heavy with worry.

"No, not yet," the vet answered.

"I brought him his own food…. He's a picky eater."

"Ok, sure."

"And I brought a blanket from home for him to sleep on, he might feel better that way"

"Ok."

"Is he awake?"

"No ma'am he's asleep," she said "If you wanna take him home, you can tomorrow, but we recommend he stays a few more nights just to be safe…. But it will cost-"

"Don't worry about costs… money's not a problem… we're only concerned with what's best for him," she said and then sadly realized 'we' wasn't probably the correct pronoun anymore.

"Ms. Dessler his car has just arrived," Claire warned.

"Thank you, I will be in touch," Michelle said, hanging up her phone.

Bill walked in a moment later. She hesitated, she wasn't sure how to greet him and he sensed this and made the decision for her by opening his arms. She hugged him and felt very awkward in front of all the employees. "Good morning Bill. Welcome to Division, Los Angeles." Everyone clapped. "This," she said turning to everyone, "is Bill Buchanan. He will be our new Regional Director." She then finished by introducing the department heads and sending everyone back to work. She walked him down the hall. "This is your office," she said opening the door to a big office with large windows, much like her own.

"You know, this kinda feels like déjà vu in reverse," he smiled. She nodded and turned to go to her office "Michelle," he said to stop her.

She turned and he beckoned her into his office "Yes?" she said, taking a step into his office.

"You know you are beautiful, don't you?" he said.

Her face burned and she looked out into the hall to make sure no one had heard. She closed the door "What?" she said in disbelief.

"I just wanted to make sure we were clear on that so I could tell you, without offending you, that you look like hell," he said with worry. "What happened?"

"I had a very long night," she said rubbing her face tiredly. Just the mere thought of it caused weariness to overcome her.

Bill noticed the huge sparkling engagement ring and wedding band she still wore. "Tony?" he guessed quietly.

"My dog got hit by a car and almost died last night," she answered defensively.

"Oh," he said quickly. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, not meaning the dog.

"Don't be… you're not completely wrong," she said as she turned to leave.

"You deserve better," he said quietly, but she heard his words, sharp and clear.

Everything in her wanted to turn back around and yell in Tony's defense. But for two reasons she didn't: A) She didn't want to fight with Bill, after all they had to work side-by-side now and B) She wasn't sure Tony was defendable. So she bit her lip and pretended not to have heard as she left and headed back to her office.

_(Later)_

After spending a few hours with Garren and thinking all day, Michelle had decided what to do. She walked into the house without a word and went directly up to their room.

"Michelle?" Tony called from the couch.

She ignored him and went upstairs. She could hear that he was at least somewhat drunk. He called her name a few more times and then stomped up the stairs. "Why won't you-" he stopped when he saw three suitcases being packed "What is this?"

She didn't answer, she didn't want to look at him, she feared that might kill her.

"Michelle… what," he said watching her zip them up mutely. "Michelle!" he yelled and it broke through her silence.

"I'm leaving!" she said as she burst into tears.

"For a work trip?" he guessed rolling his eyes.

She looked him in the eyes against her better judgment. "Forever," she said in a tiny voice.

She struggled with the suitcases down the hall "What!" he yelled "What do you mean!" he demanded.

He pushed the suitcases down the stairs in anger and looked her in the eye. Her eyes were fierce and full of hurt. "Just like you told me to," she replied, her voice coated with pain, and as she spoke an inexplicable wave of anger coursed through her veins.

She ran down the stairs and grabbed her suitcases. "What are you talking about?" he said angrily.

"How could you not rem-" she stopped, slightly astonished, and then her eyes hardened. "Oh yea… you were _drunk_" she remembered with disgust. Picking up the bags, she headed out the door into the rain.

"I was drunk!" he yelled in defense, "so calm down and come back inside."

The trunk opened and she threw two bags in. "Those words didn't come from nowhere," she said as she threw the last one in and slammed the door. She opened her door and started to climb in.

"Michelle," he said softly and it cut right through her. He hadn't said her name this way since he had started drinking. She stopped. She could feel the rain trickling down her face, mixing with the tears beginning to escape her eyes. She knew what she was doing was right.

She spun around and grabbed his face pulling it to hers, kissing him passionately and leaving him gasping for air. "I can't do this anymore," she whispered, getting into the Denali and starting the engine. In no time, she was gone, leaving Tony standing in her wake, crushed, heartbroken and still reeling from everything that had just happened.

The second he was out of sight, she broke down into tears, she lost it so bad she had to pull over. The rain was beating heavily outside and onto the car. She shut off the engine and listened to it as she cried.

_"I've been thinking lately about how much I love you," she remembered him saying "And I can feel it but for some reason I can't think of any word to describe it... nothing is this big, this strong, this perfect..." he paused and looked down caressing her hands which were in his. "But the other day I was driving home and it was raining and I thought about all the little rain drops...God there's gotta be billions of them that fall in just a few seconds in Los Angeles alone, then there's the ones that already have fallen and then the ones that will fall... puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans... all full of little raindrops... that's a lot of raindrops..." he looked up at her "That's how much I love you... I love you as much as all the little raindrops put together" A tear ran down Michelle's face and he caught it with his thumb "This one too" he smiled and she laughed. "So the next time it rains or you go swimming... remember that."_

_I've been losin days  
The shades pulled down  
I still can't face the sun_

But I-I'm goin crazy  
I can't stay here  
I've gone completely numb

_I-I wanna feel the rain again  
I-I wanna feel the water on my skin  
And let it all just wash away  
In a downpour  
I wanna feel the rain_

I wanna feel the rain


	113. Chapter 113 Holes

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

Alright, more sadness, but there's a little happy mixed in and we will be in a flashback for a lot of the chapter, plus after this chapter we are going to fast forward a couple months:)

~ Chapter 113 ~

"Breakfast" Dan said as Michelle trudged into the kitchen.

"It's 7pm" she grumbled.

"Well it will be the first thing you've eaten all day so I'm calling it breakfast"

"I'm not hungry"

"Michelle" Dan said in a serious warning tone.

"Forcing me to eat won't make this any easier" she countered dropping into a chair.

"I worry about you honey" he said in a softer tone.

"Don't, please" she said rubbing her temples.

"You think you can show up at my doorstep in the pouring rain half-way through a nervous breakdown, cry yourself to sleep on my couch, have screaming nightmares all night, not eat or come out of your room all day long and I'm not supposed to worry?" he said in disbelief.

"I didn't realize I had been screaming out loud, I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize… you're a wreck and I want you to feel free to scream, cry, whatever, here and feel safe… but you're not going to starve yourself" he said pushing the plate toward her.

She eyed the food and then looked back up at him "I'm fairly sure that if I eat this I will be sick very shortly"

"Is there something else that would be better?" he asked hopefully.

"I usually have crackers and water"

"What do you mean usually? How long have you been like this?" he asked as his concern intensified.

"I have been eating… more lightly… for awhile now" she answered trying to make it sound like no big deal. The phone rang and she sighed with relief.

He shot an angry glance at the phone and then looked back to her and with a serious tone said, "Well it needs to stop." He pushed the button "Hello? Hey… yea she is…. No….you have no idea… don't you dare… you don't know what you are talking about… no…. yes I'm serious, don't cross me on this one….I know….me too… yea….right here… I don't know… ok I will…ok…I wouldn't hold your breath… you know…yea…well I'll talk to you later…k bye" He put the phone down and looked up at Michelle nibbling on her food "That was Danny, he wants you to know if you need anything or want to stay there you are welcome"

"Thanks, but I should have an apartment by the end of the week"

His eyes widened "Just like that?"

"For now yea" she said quietly.

"Why should you have to move out and pay for an apartment?" he said slightly angrily.

"You know money is not an issue…"

"Still… you're entitled to-"

"_Please_" she raised her voice as emotion began to well in her chest "That is the last thing I care about…look…I know you're worried and I love you for it, but _please_ let me handle this"

_(A few days later)_

Michelle pushed her bags over the threshold into the already furnished apartment. She closed the door behind her. The décor was plain, but tasteful. She stepped over her bags and sat down on the couch.

Silence.

As much as her house had turned into a place where she constantly ached, a place that haunted her with its beauty and all the things it was built for… love, the perfect marriage, life, happiness…children…tears stung her eyes at the thought… she missed the house regardless, because as the silence of the apartment began to suffocate her she realized this apartment had no rooms for children, because she wouldn't have any here… she wouldn't have any at all… no… marriage, life, love, happiness…her dreams… were officially behind her.

_(Two days later)_

"Is Michelle late?" Bill asked Claire.

"No, Ms. Dessler sent an e-mail, she will be out again today"

Bill's furrowed his brow "It's been a week, she's _still_ sick?"

"That's what the message claimed" Claire said with raised eyebrows.

He spun around and went back to his office dialing her number as he closed the door.

"Dessler" she said in a low tone.

"Michelle" Bill said "It's Bill, are you okay?"

A lump rose in her throat, she thought after crying for days that she was finally out of tears, she was wrong. The weight of Tony pushing her away had left her feeling uncared for and alone, so this gentle voice asking if she was okay brought a wave of emotion she wasn't ready for. She knew if she spoke she'd start crying, so she silently tried to force it all back long enough for her to end the phone call.

"Michelle?"

"I'm fine" she lied, but her broken voice gave her away. She pulled the bottom of the phone away from her face so she could cover her mouth to muffle her crying.

"You're not sick are you" he said more of a statement than a question.

"No I am" she said giving up on not crying. She worked to control her breathing.

"But that's not why you're crying" he said knowingly.

"No"

"What happened?" Bill asked gently.

"I left…" she cried and then quickly added "he asked me to stay and I left him, I had to Bill, I had to-"

"Sh, sh, shhh" he said softly "You did the right thing"

"I don't know" she whispered.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"My apartment" she answered.

"You got an apartment?" he asked "Where is it? I want to come see you"

"No Bill, I'm sick, I really am… I don't want you to-"

"I don't care, you shouldn't be alone right now"

"I _need_ to be alone right now" she insisted as she cried.

"You've been alone for days and look where it's gotten you, please Michelle… let me bring you something to eat, I'll bet you haven't eaten"

"No, no no!" she said quickly in frustration "If you're just coming here to nag me about not eating, forget it, that's why I left my Dad's house so quickly…"

"Okay, okay… No force feeding… where's your apartment?" he asked gently.

She struggled, she didn't want company, the only company she wanted was that of Tony and she knew that wasn't going to happen and Bill couldn't change that… but he kept pleading and she owed him for covering her workload the past week, she'd pretend to be tired and force him out she decided as she gave him the address and ended the call.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony groaned and rolled over. No matter how much alcohol he downed she was always there. Everywhere he looked… even when he closed his eyes, there was no escaping her. The heartbroken look in her eyes… he couldn't stand it. He opened his eyes and of course they landed on the large and gorgeous picture of them at their wedding kissing, both of them looking like their smiles were so deep they'd never fade. He pulled himself up, he couldn't sleep with that staring at him. He stomped up the stairs trying not to look at the pictures that lined the staircase of all the beautiful moments that had passed. He walked into the bedroom and immediately scolded himself, like this room would be any better, every room in this house held beautiful memories that now cut holes in him, especially this room on so many occasions…

"_Hey you… no, no, no buddy you sleep in your bed" Tony whispered with a smile pointing to the soft pile of blankets on the floor. Garren licked his face then ran over to his bed. Tony rolled his eyes and wiped the slobber off his cheek "Gross" He turned toward the bathroom to take a shower, but then stopped when he glanced over at the angel sleeping in the bed. He couldn't help himself. He walked over quietly and knelt next to her, watching her sleep. He kissed her nose lightly, hoping it wouldn't wake her up._

_Her eyes slowly opened and a smile spread across her face "You're home"_

_He nodded "Sorry baby, I didn't mean to wake you… I was just gonna take a shower"_

"_Want company?" she smiled._

_He kissed her forehead "You just worked a 22 hour shift, you need rest" he ran his fingers through her hair "I'll be right back…stay…rest" he smiled turning and walking toward the bathroom until he heard movement behind him._

_He turned and she was half-way out of bed, her eyes sparkling with excitement waiting for his next move._

_How could he say no? He smiled and charged at her knocking her backward onto the bed._

He tore himself away from the memory as he felt tears rolling down his face. He needed to get out of this house… _now._

_There's three in the hall from those pictures in the closet  
Two in the bedroom from that night I lost it  
And one deep inside me_

_D__etermined to stay  
They don't get any bigger_

_B__ut they don't go away _

_Holes _

_In and around me _

_I keep falling back into  
Holes_

_Dig in and surround me  
God knows what I'm gonna do  
To fill in these holes left by you  
Left by you _

_I pour drink after drink but nothing hit bottom  
I've been on my knees, admitted my problems  
The love that we made still barely an echo  
I'll try anything in these vacant hollow__s___

There's two through my hands 

_A__nd one through my feet  
From this cross that I bare_

_T__o the day that I s__l__ee__p__  
Its guilt and its blame _

_I__ts shame and its love  
Seeking the truth__...__ I dug them myself  
_

_(Meanwhile)_

Michelle's cell rang and she picked it up, she expected it would be Bill but instead it was her doctor "Dessler"

"Hey Michelle, I just got your message… I'd like to come and see you"

"It's the middle of the day I'm sure you have other patients Cadie I can wait"

"You're like family Michelle, I'm on my way"

"Cay I don't live there anymore" Michelle said reluctantly.

"What happened?" she said already knowing the answer.

"I couldn't do it anymore, you were right"

Cadie sighed "The way you were living was physically and emotionally killing you, but don't worry… it will work out and I have a feeling that's why you are so sick right now, which is why I'm coming now"

"Cadie I can wait, honestly"

"Michelle I've been your doctor for _years_, you should know better than to try and push me away… you know how stubborn I am" Cadie said with a small smile. There was a short silence "I need to make sure you're okay… I won't be able to focus today if I don't come see you"

"There really is no stopping you" Michelle admitted giving her the new address.

Michelle hung up, Cadie had been her doctors for over 2 years… throughout every step, good and bad she had been there helping Michelle, even when Michelle didn't want it. She was an excellent doctor and a good friend. Michelle remembered when they met…

"_The wait will be approximately 5 minutes, possibly less since you have a reservation, please stay nearby and we will call your name soon, you don't want to miss the call" the hostess said with a smile._

_Tony smiled politely and walked away from the podium with Michelle grumbling "What's the point of a reservation if you still have to wait" he spun her with the hand he had and took her other hand "I'm sorry, I know you're starving" he said softly._

_She smiled "It's ok, it gives me time to run back to the car… I think I forgot to lock it….and in this neighborhood…"_

"_I'll go" Tony offered quickly, ever since his father had died Tony had been super protective of her._

_Michelle sighed, she had to prove to him that she wasn't helpless and fragile "I will be fine, it's only 3 blocks away, I have my phone, and…. Oh yea that's right! I'm a federal agent who is top-of-my-class in hand-to-hand combat" she rolled her eyes "I think I'll survive" she smiled using his hands to pull him down as she stretched up and kissed his nose "Be right back"_

_Michelle strolled down the road. She crossed the road and as she walked along the second black she spotted a park that looked pretty beaten up. Graffiti covered the jungle-gym and two of the swings were broken._

"_Don't!" she heard a cry._

_She heard a harsh murmuring followed by a suppressed crying sound. She stopped and realized the sound was coming from the alley she was about to pass. She slowly stalked to the edge of the alley and peered around the corner. A small blonde boy was curled up in the corner, frozen in fear. His mother was being backed into a corner on the far end of the alley crying "Run Kyle, run baby!"_

"_What did I tell you about talking? You know all I wanted was the boy but I think I'm willing to compromise" he said unbuttoning her shirt._

"_Stop right there!" Michelle yelled wishing she had a gun on her._

_The man stiffened and turned his head "Oh really? How dumb could you be?" he snickered turning to her "How about you walk away and I will just forget you were here?"_

"_Just go! He'll hurt you too!" the woman cried helplessly._

_Michelle took a confident step toward him. He smiled and grabbed a bat that he had set on the ground out of the woman's reach. Michelle pulled a punch clearly aimed for his face. As her fist shot toward him his bat swung in its direction. She snapped her arm back and with the other, grabbed the bat and turned it on him. He put his hands up and let out a laugh. When his arms went up Michelle's leg flew up and the sole of her foot sent him flying backward into a wall. Suddenly they both heard the scream of a little boy which got drown out by the sound of squealing tires as a van across the street sped away._

"_KYLE!" the woman screamed scrambling to her feet, running toward the end of the alley, but the van had vanished "My baby! No! KYLE!" she cried falling to her knees._

_Michelle flipped her phone open "Tony, I'm two blocks south of you, come now" she said._

_She could hear by his breathing that he was running "Are you ok?"_

"_I'm fine, but I need your help" she said breathlessly._

"_I'm halfway there baby, hold on"_

_A few seconds later he appeared at the end of the alley. She saw relief wash over his face when his eyes met hers. He rushed up to her. She pointed to the woman "Her son just got kidnapped" she spun and pointed to the unconscious man slumped against the wall "While he was attacking her" she breathed._

"_He's unconscious" Tony assumed and Michelle nodded._

_The woman spun around "Help me, please… please, he's all I have, you have to help me find him!" she cried._

_Michelle's eyes softened as she walked to her "Of course, don't worry, we will find him"_

_A few minutes later the Denali flew down the alley and Michelle helped the woman into the back seat, then joined Tony in the front. She pulled out her phone "Hey Doug, yea give me Chloe… thanks… Hey Chloe it's Michelle, I need your help with something, but it's off the record….don't worry …. Yea it's not like that, this little boy has been kidnapped, I'm here with his mother… yes… that's exactly what I need… First and Central… yea… red eco-line van… thanks" she said hanging up "She'll call us back with a location" Michelle said quietly to Tony "Drive south" she instructed as Tony took her hand as they always did when they were in the car. He pulled her hand over and gently kissed it, then let their hands return to the center. Michelle turned to the back seat "We're getting help, don't worry" she said, but the woman seemed frozen "What's your name?" Michelle asked._

"_Cadence Mackey" she said robotically._

"_Cadence, my name is Michelle and this is my husband Tony" Michelle said softly._

_Tony glanced in the rearview mirror to see the woman beginning to cry again "how are we ever gonna find him?"_

"_Don't worry… we have…" Michelle glanced at Tony "special resources"_

"_What do you mean?"_

_Michelle looked up at Tony and they had a quick silent conversation and then Tony spoke up "We are going to help you and we will find your son, but the thing is… these resources we have are not really supposed to be used for things like this, so if we are going to help we are going to need you to promise you won't tell anyone about this"_

"_I'll do whatever you want!" she said quickly and then thought for a second "But wait… then how am I gonna press charges?"_

"_We can take care of that" Michelle said._

"_Do we have your word?" Tony asked._

"_Of course! I love my son and I'll do anything to get him back!"_

"_We are federal agents" Michelle said "That's how we have these resources, but they are for other things, but we are more than happy to help… we just don't want the media in on this"_

"_Federal agents?" her eyes widened in awe. She looked back and forth between them "Both of you?" they nodded as Michelle's phone rang._

_(Later)_

"_Don't you dare" Tony whispered as Michelle wedged herself closer to the door "You go come in here they are gonna-"Tony stopped as two men walked back into the room checking that his hands were still cuffed as screaming erupted from another room. Michelle stayed silent, trying not to attract attention. They had Tony captured and Cadence had run in, saying that Michelle shouldn't risk her life, she should run and save herself._

_A tall man walked up to Tony "You got a name?" he said._

_A shorter man walked up next to him "Your NAME!" he yelled._

_Seconds later the tall man shook and fell to the floor and the short man froze "Interlock your fingers" an icy, all-to-familiar, feminine voice hissed. It was then that Tony noticed the gun to the man's head. She handed him keys and the tazer and he had to smile, she never ceased to amaze him._

_It was only a matter of ten minutes before the remaining two hostiles were cuffed and being stuffed into police cars. Cadence sobbed thanking Tony and Michelle over and over for everything and promising she would help them with anything they ever needed. "I owe you my life and more than that I owe you my son's life…. Anything you need... and I truly mean _anything_ and I will be there for you"_

She had meant it. Since that day, anytime she or Tony didn't feel good she was at their house giving them all the medical care they needed. They even called her in to CTU Medical whenever they were hurt in the field; they knew she'd be upset if they let anyone else treat them.

There was a knock at the door "Come in" Michelle tried to call, surprised to hear how weak her voice was, she began to get up but apparently he had heard her anyway.

He stepped in "Oh no, no don't get up" he said hurrying over to stop her "You need to rest" he said kneeling next to her.

"You look awful" he said with worry.

"I know" she said sadly.

"Don't worry, though, you'll be back to normal in no time" he promised.

Normal? Like the past couples months normal? Wonderful. All she wanted was to be normal like she was before the virus…. happy, active, passionate, but lately she had been the opposite of each of those. The before-the-virus normal was never coming back and she didn't want any other normal.

"You should see a doctor" Bill said.

"She's on her way"

"I didn't know doctors still did house calls" Bill smiled.

"Mine does, but just for me… she insisted on coming today" As if on cue, there was another knock "Come in" Michelle tried to sound stronger.

Cadence paused when she saw Bill, then brushed past him to Michelle "Hey you" she smiled warmly "Symptoms please" she said putting on her stethoscope… "and no downplaying" she warned and then put the cold metal to Michelle's chest "Breathe"

Michelle breathed then began "Fever, nausea, fatigue, headache… you know…the works"

Cadence felt under her chin "Your glands are swollen very badly."

"Should I continue?" Michelle asked.

Cadence nodded and smiled.

20 minutes later Cadence was finishing up. "These two meds will help, start them immediately, get some rest…you look exhausted…if you need sleep aids I can get them for you, also…. You are not eating enough… and I know" she slowed down and lowered her voice "I know there are other factors here effecting your diet and sleeping, but … you have to force yourself a little and just give it some time… he will come around" she said softly.

Michelle felt tears sting her eyes but she blinked them away "I don't know"

"Call me if you wanna talk" she offered. "You should be back on your feet in a few days" she said closing her bag then she looked back at Michelle "No sooner" she warned, knowing Michelle was the type to push herself.

Michelle put her hands up in surrender.

"See Michelle, just a few days and you'll be good as new" Bill smiled trying to be supportive.

Cadence and Michelle exchanged glances, they both knew better.


	114. Chapter 114 So Cold

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Chris Brown_)

~ Chapter 114 ~

Gina pulled into the driveway slowly. Tony and Michelle's home had always given off a warm and inviting vibe, but as she pulled up and turned her car off she felt a chill. She couldn't tell if anyone was home so she headed up to the door, it was locked...which normally meant no one was home, but she wanted answers after not hearing from them for so long, she knew something was wrong and she needed to find out what.

She entered the back gate which was left wide open 'That's odd' she thought 'Why would they leave it open? Garren could get out' she closed the gate.

She approached the back door and tugged on the door. It slid open 'weird' she thought as she entered the kitchen "Tony? Michelle?" she looked around "Gar-Gar?" she called, but she heard nothing. She took another few steps until she caught a glimpse of the living room

Beer cans and bottles covered the coffee table and the pillows and blankets made it clear Tony had been sleeping there. A vase was shattered on the floor and had left a mark on the wall next to the front door, she can imagine what had happened there. Something _seriously _bad had happened, this much, Gina _knew._

She quickly dialed Tony's cell phone from the house phone to see if he would answer.

"Michelle?" she heard Tony croak in a low voice.

"Tony its Gina, where are you and what the hell has happened to your house?"

Tony scrunched his brow "What are you doing there?"

"I was looking for you, why haven't you been answering my calls?" she asked, but all she got was silence "Where are you?"

"Nowhere... look... leave the house... don't worry about it"

"I don't understand! Tony if you don't tell me what's going on RIGHT NOW I swear to God I'll call mom and she will be ALL OVER THIS!"

Tony sighed... his mother is the last person he needed riding him... if she found out she'd make his life hell and he couldn't take anymore as it is. "If I tell you what's going on you have to swear to me you won't tell ANYONE."

"Ok fine... just... tell me what's going on"

"I'll be there in 10 minutes" he hung up.

Gina sighed and closed the phone. She looked around the kitchen and noticed all the clocks were wrong. Garren's water bowl was bone dry so she took the bowl over to the sink and refilled it spilling some on the floor. She looked around for paper towels to clean it up but couldn't find any. She looked around and frowned "Something is really wrong here" She looked up at their answering machine '52 messages'. They obviously had not been living here. She looked at the bills on the counter they were 2 months old. She shook her head and sighed.

She checked the other rooms and all she noticed was pictures face down everywhere, all of them pictures of Tony and Michelle smiling, kissing, or laughing. She looked out the front window and saw a red jeep speed down the road and swung into the driveway. Tony got out and she frowned and opened the door "Hey" she tried to smile "What happened to your car?"

He looked up at her, his eyes were dark and bloodshot then he walked right past her stopping dead in his tracks when he got a few feet inside. She walked up behind him silently; his breathing was getting really fast and shallow as he looked around. She noticed he was starting to get upset when he turned away and stormed into the kitchen toward the refrigerator pulling out a beer. She crossed her arms across her chest as he quickly opened it and took a long gulp "What are you doing?"

"Getting a drink, help yourself" he said coldly.

"No thanks" she said "Where's Michelle?"

"I don't know," he said dropping into a chair at the opposite end of the table.

Gina's jaw dropped "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he raised his voice taking another drink.

"You better start explaining Tony"

"She left me" he said angrily "Just like that! Satisfied? Michelle and I are through! I don't know where she is, I haven't seen her in over a month, she's gone! Ya happy?"

"No! that's _not_ enough! It doesn't make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to" Tony finished the beer and turned around to get another but as he walked he slipped in the water from Garren's bowl and came crashing to the floor.

"TONY!" she rushed over to him. He was out cold. She sighed his breath reeked of alcohol. She dragged him into the living room and carefully lifted him onto the couch with a struggle. He had gained weight. She shook her head. She went back into the kitchen and looked in the garbage can, it was filled almost completely with beer bottles and cans. She took the trash out and the other trashcans were filled with similar trash 'This is awful' she hurried back into the house and cleared the fridge and cabinets of all alcohol and took them to the curb with the rest of the trash.

She washed her hands in the sink and looked out the window to the backyard.

"_I love your pool" Gina said wrapping a towel around herself "I'm gonna be coming here every day this summer ._

"_Maybe you'll get faster at swimming" Corey smiled "Considering I beat you every time" he smiled poking her as she pretended to be hurt "Don't worry, men are just naturally good swimmers"_

"_I could beat you" Michelle smiled confidently "No question"_

"_Well you've had special training… I'm not sure that counts"_

"_So has Tony… I beat him too" Michelle smiled._

_Tony stepped over at hearing this "What's that? Did I hear a challenge?" He smiled pulling her toward the edge of the pool._

"_No Tony!" she giggled "DON'T, don't, don't!" she pleaded struggling against him._

_He pulled her wrists together and pulled them against his chest "I thought I heard you challenging me?" he smiled._

_Over his should Michelle saw Gina motion and Michelle gave a small nod. Michelle looked into Tony's eyes and kissed him as Gina and Corey sent them both tumbling into the pool._

"What are you doing?" Tony said walking into the kitchen snapping Gina out of her memory.

She looked at him "Please sit down, we need to talk"

He eyed her closely and sat down "What?" he said with an attitude.

"You have a problem and you are gonna let me help me or I will drag Mom and the rest of our family into this to help you, because you need help… so please let me help you"

"Don't you get it!" he slammed his fist on the table "THERE'S NO FIXING THIS!"

"I've known you almost your whole life so I know better than to try and talk to you when you're drunk" she said standing up "Come on, you need to sleep it off"

He glared at her "When I wake up in the morning she'll still be gone, my life will still be hell, only difference is I'll be able to feel it more than normal"

"Maybe feeling the pain will motivate you to work this out," she said following him up the stairs. Instead of heading straight towards their bedroom he turned into the first bedroom "What are you doing?"

"This is where I'm sleeping" he closed the door and flopped onto the bed. The sun was almost gone. He sighed as he felt his body ache, it would be a long night.

Gina headed into the other guest room and dialed Corey.

"Hello?"

"Hey Core, its me"

"Hey hun, how's it going?"

"Worse than I could have imagined… she left him… awhile ago… he hasn't even been living here" she said as tears began to stream down her face.

"Oh honey…" Corey said gently "You on your way home?" he asked softly.

"No" she sniffed "No I'm gonna stay here and try to sort this out"

"Gina if they've been apart this long maybe-"

"NO... Corey this is _wrong_ and you know it… I _have_ to fix this" she said sternly.

"Okay… okay I just don't want you to get your hopes up and-"

"If there's _one thing_ that gives me hope…_one thing_ in this world that I believe in, its them… I mean come on… its Tony and Michelle…. They have to be okay"

"Did you tell him about-"

"No! He's a wreck… he can't take that right now"

"Okay" he said.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow okay? I love you"

"Love you too honey, take care"

_(The next morning)_

Gina woke up to the sound of someone mowing the lawn. She looked out her window. Their lawn company was there. She walked out of the room and headed toward the room Tony was in. He was fast asleep but the room smelled so she closed the door. She glanced down the hall at their bedroom. She cautiously approached it and slowly opened the door. The blinds were closed so the room was dim. She could see tissues overflowing from a small trashcan next to their bed, the bed was a mess and their alarm clock was wrong. Michelle's closet door was open and all of her clothes were gone. Gina closed the door with a tear in her eye. She missed Michelle. If anyone could make Tony better it was Michelle, Gina couldn't understand how they had come to this point, but she hoped she could help them fix this, because she loved Michelle and if Tony was suffering that meant somewhere Michelle was suffering too.

Tony woke up to the smell of breakfast. He rushed to the bathroom and vomited for the 8th time that night. He decided to take a shower.

When Gina heard the shower she smiled. About 15 minutes later Tony sauntered into the kitchen "Good morning" Gina greeted.

"Right" Tony said getting a bottle of water out of the fringe.

"Hungry?" she asked putting a plate of pancakes.

"I have a splitting headache and I'm definitely not hungry"

"Ok, but you should probably eat something," she said giving him one pancake. She sat down with her own plate. "So I see you still have the landscapers come"

"They will continue to come as long as they keep getting paid"

"Michelle taking care of that?" Gina asked lightly.

"Someone's gotta be paying the bills… I guess… after all she's the one with a job" he said slightly annoyed. The phone rang. Gina looked up at him as he ignored it.

"Aren't you gonna get that?"

"No" he said "And neither are you"

They sat quietly as the phone rang. The message machine beeped and he heard her voice " 'Heyy this is Michelle and Tony' she giggled 'come on' she whispered then he laughed 'Leave us a message and we'll call ya back' " the answering machine played.

A tear fell from Tony's face onto his plate as his mother's voice came onto the machine "Hey Tony, it's Mom again, thanks for the emails, but I would really like to see you and Michelle please give me a call when you get a chance honey, please, bye"

Tony jumped up from the table heading for the door "I'm _not_ doing this!" he said.

She ran ahead of him and blocked the door "No, you are NOT quitting!"

"Move Gina!"

"Have a seat or I _swear_ I will call her back!" She yelled "Wouldn't she like to hear about this?"

Tony clenched his jaw and spun around slamming himself down onto the couch "This is not helping me Gina!" he muttered angrily "you think you know what you are dealing with but you don't!"

"Then tell me," she said sitting across from him.

He looked up at her then he averted his gaze away from her, "When I got back from jail… I…" a picture caught his eye. It was him with his arm over Michelle, they were both smiling. For a moment he stared closely at the picture until a tear streamed down his face "You want the truth? You really wanna know?" he started to lose it "It's all _my_ fault"

"What?"

"She tried…" he choked "She tried to help me… talk to me… but I couldn't do it… I pushed her away" he said, his eyes full of regret.

"Why?" she gasped leaning forward trying not to cry as she watched her brother in such pain.

"I didn't want her to see me… see what I had become," he said as another tear rolled down his face and he picked the picture up staring at it, the aching in his eyes was heartbreaking.

"Michelle would love you no matter what" she said in the steadiest voice she could find.

"That's why she deserved better" he sniffed, "I didn't deserve her… so I let her go" he realized her sounded ridiculous as the words left his mouth.

"She doesn't want what _you think_ is better… she wants you"

"Not anymore" he cried covering his eyes.

"How do you know that? I bet if you called her you could change this, I bet you she's out there somewhere thinking about you"

"She won't answer"

"Have you tried?"

"No… I can't…its my fault… I was horrible to her… I can't face her"

"She's your wife"

Tony looked up, his eyes were beat red. He hadn't heard those words in a long time he repeated them in his head '_my wife_…she's my _wife_' "I… can't believe I let this happen" he said as his eyes darted back in forth as he thought about everything that had happened "I… I was angry…. I drank and yelled, I called her names…" he began to cry "I pushed her away… I told her to leave so many times… I pushed her away… I made her… I hurt her… I need… I… I miss her" his voice broke as he cried and shook.

Damn I want my baby back  
It's so cold without her  
Cold without her  
She's gone  
Now I'm alone, no one to hold on  
Cause she was the only one  
And I know I was dead wrong

_But if you  
If you  
See her soon  
Ask her will she forgive me_

_If you ever see her  
If you ever meet her  
If you ever get a chance to sit down and talk to her  
Let her know it's so cold  
It's so cold, it's so cold  
Here without her  
And tell her I miss her  
Tell her I need her  
Tell her I want her  
I really want her to come back home_

_Back to keep me warm  
Tell her I'm sorry, I'm really sorry  
Can you forgive me?  
Please forgive me  
And come back home, keep me safe and warm_

"Call her…. Tell her you're sorry"

Tony thought for a minute he remembered what he had received in the mail with _her_ signature then began to shake his head "No… no no!" he stood up "She doesn't even want this anymore… I'm not gonna call her and have her hang up on me or tell me off… I wouldn't be able to handle that… no…she wants this to end she's proven that already"

"What do you mean she's proven it?"

"She LEFT" he said "And look what I got in the mail right before I moved out" he said walking over to the desk and pulling out an envelope. They were divorce papers. "Someone who still wants to be married to you doesn't send you divorce papers," he said crossing his arms against his chest.

"She was _trying_ to get your attention!" Gina said standing up "She doesn't really want a divorce! She left and you didn't follow her! Did you?"

"I don't know where she went," he said defensively.

"Oh _please_!" Gina said throwing her arms out "You know her better than she knows herself! You finish her sentences! You know what she's thinking before she even thinks it! You could've found her! But you didn't…" she said dropping the papers down onto the table.

"I was drunk," he muttered.

"Exactly! Don't you _see_?" she said getting frustrated with him "You didn't wake up when she left you… this is another 'wake up' call! What more could she _possibly_ do?" she shook her head and eyed him with astonishment "The Tony _I _used to know would _jump out of his skin_ at the sight of these papers!" she said pointing to the papers "God! What the hell did they _do_ to you that you can't even recognize that you are about to loose _everything_ and you could stop it! Anytime you want! But you've gotta _do_ SOMETHING Tony"

_(Later)_

Tony held the phone in his hands nervously. What if Gina was wrong? He loved and missed Michelle, but he had hurt her and in his mind she had every right to hate him and tell him off. But if she did… if she told him she didn't love him anymore… it would be the worst thing that had ever happened to him… he didn't know if his heart could take it.

But what if she was right. What if Michelle could come home and he could hold her again. It would be worth the risk.

He held down the 5 button to speed dial Michelle.

Michelle sighed as she felt her phone vibrate and looked down at it as it lit up. She was in the middle of an important meeting 'Tony' the phone read. She immediately got up and left the room not caring what people thought. She got to the hallway away from anyone else "Dessler" she said timidly.

"Michelle?"

"Tony?" Michelle said as her heart beat sped up and her breathing became shallow. Was something wrong? Was he ok?

"Hi… I umm… I got the papers you sent me," he said awkwardly.

Her heart sank and she squeezed her eyes closed "Uh yea… I uh…" she didn't know what to say.

"If you want me to I'll sign them" he said sadly.

"Tony…" she dropped her head "We need to talk about this"

"Yea, that's why I called… Look if you really want a divorce then so be it but... but if you want to fix this... if you still care... if you really don't want me to sign them, I'll meet you at the house at 6"

"Ok" she said "But Tony"

"Yea?"

"Only if you're sober," she said firmly "I can't handle another fight… I just..." she composed herself "I just can't do that again"

"I promise"


	115. Chapter 115 Givin' Up

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Parachute, Jason Derulo_)

~ Chapter 115 ~

"Michelle?" Bill asked cautiously, approaching her from the conference. Seeing her tears, his tone softened. "What happened?"

"I just need a minute," she said hurrying to the bathroom. There was one voice she loved more than any other sound in the world. The sound of his laughter, his playful banter, his tone of frustration, his soft whispers… she knew them all and she had instantly known his tone over the phone…Brokenness… he had been crying before he got on the phone and beneath that was the undercurrent of fear. She had reached her limits, her heart had become so beaten that she felt like one more fight with him would be the end of her… That being said, she could _never_ turn away from him. The regret would eat her alive, so she had to go… no matter how afraid she was. Michelle emerged slowly from the bathroom still submerged in thought.

"Michelle," Bill said urgently.

"I'm fine," she said, not even looking up, continuing toward her office.

He caught her arm. "There's a situation."

_(Later)_

Tony finished setting up to cook dinner. "Alright you have to go… now."

"The living room is all clean and the house smells nice again," Gina smiled proudly.

Tony nodded. "Yea thanks," he said half-heartedly.

"Smile Tony, tonight, you get your woman back," she smiled.

"If she comes," he said turning toward the kitchen.

"She'll come" Gina said confidently "She loves you"

"I can't understand why, but I hope you're right."

_(Later)_

"Pull back!" Michelle ordered.

"What? No! That makes no-" Bill began to argue.

"Pull BACK!" Michelle repeated quickly.

They watched on the monitor as the agents began to retreat. Just then, the screen lit up as an explosive detonated. Bill gasped and looked over at Michelle who didn't seem surprised. "How did you see that?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"I didn't have to, that was a simple yet serious tactical error, unless you have a visual of the hostile you _never_ concentrate your teams and allow them to converge like that," she lectured then glanced up at the time. '5:54', she hurried out to her office.

"Where are you going?" Bill said following her to her office as she grabbed her keys and purse.

"I need to go," she said, walking up to him but he wouldn't allow her to pass.

"I can't let you go, I need you here," he said as he shook his head.

This caught her off guard, since he had never before tried to control her. "I wasn't asking your permission," she countered smoothly.

He stopped at her tone. "What's so important?" he said, trying to understand.

"It's personal," she replied curtly pushing past him.

She quickly calculated time, it was about 5:56 now and it would take her a minute to reach the car and get going, then it would normally take her 17 minutes to get home, but if she sped she could get it down to 10 minutes and- "Michelle!" she heard Bill call from behind her.

She turned her head and slowed her walking but didn't stop.

"Are you going to see him?" he asked.

"It's not you business and you have operations to be running."

"Don't do it… you'll get hurt," he called softly.

"It's not my well-being I'm concerned about."

She jumped up into the Denali and it roared to life and she sped out of the parking garage. She couldn't help but consider the fact that Bill was probably right. This would most likely end in disaster. Rain began falling outside. She tried to prepare herself for the worst. What if she walked in and he was angry, she wasn't used to the idea of him being angry at _her_, she didn't know what he was capable in that case, she only knew what he was like when he was mad at anything but her…

_His text message had made it crystal clear he was in the worst of moods. She had been recovering from a small injury she had suffered a few days ago and even though she had wanted to go in and help he had begged her to rest, but she knew people above him had been making his life hell the past week and today was the worst of it and on top of all that, a lead on one of their most important investigations had slipped through their fingers because Chloe and Adam couldn't seem to work together for two seconds. He was beyond furious and she could only imagine how he'd be when he made it home._

_She heard the garage door opening then closing. She heard him come through the garage door. He would normally call her name or be singing when he came in the door, but now he was silent. She heard him slam the door and stomp up the stairs. She knew he needed time alone so she went back to watching television. A few minutes later she heard him coming down the stairs and within seconds he strode into the room in his pajamas with his head down. He wordlessly hurried to her, bent down and crawled onto the couch beside her, wrapping himself around her, nuzzling his face deep in her neck._

_She smiled and wrapped her arms around him running her fingers through his hair. They were now so close that she could feel his muscles against her body, he was extremely tense. She turned her head and kissed the side of his face. His hand came up and caressed the side of her face. She felt him beginning to soften. He turned his head and looked into her eyes. A smile began to spread across his face but he re-buried his head to hide it._

"_What?" she smiled._

"_This is ridiculous" he said into her neck, but she could hear the smile in his voice._

"_What do you mean?" she frowned._

_He turned his face with a small smile "I just had such a crappy day and I was _so_ pissed off, I was ready to kill someone… then" his smile brightened "Then I looked at you and now I can't stop smiling"_

"_I'm… sorry?" she giggled._

"_Don't be… it's nice to have at least one thing in my life that is never less than perfect" he said as he played with one of her curls. She was faintly aware of the music playing in the background of the car… _

_I'm givin' up, yeah_

_I'm givin' up, yeah_

_I'm givin' up searching, searching, searching to find_

_Finally found the one, it's you_

_It turns me on when I wake up_

_You're wearing my shirt, no make up_

_You're singing real loud when we make love,_

_The only one I tell all my problems,_

_One smile, know what? You solve 'em_

_Oh how your body sings, _

_No matter, what you say,_

_You always sound sexy to me_

_That's when you know_

_You know_

_When your skin touches mine_

_I just wanna love you, all night_

_That's when you know_

_You know_

_Oh nothing_

_Nothing else matters to me_

_Oh no one_

_No one makes me feel this way_

_I've been searching, searching, searching to find_

_Finally found the one, it's you_

_I've been searching, searching, searching to find_

_Finally found the one, I'm through_

_I'm givin' up, yeah_

_I'm givin' up, yeah_

_I'm givin' up searching, searching, searching to find_

_Finally found the one, it's you_

"_This is the moment that makes my whole crappy day worth it" he kissed her softly "Michelle-"_

Bright lights coming straight at her jerked her back to reality as she felt the SUV's impact and then everything was flying as the vehicle flipped over and suddenly the pavement flashed by and before she knew it she was hanging by her seatbelt. She pushed the airbag out of her face as she squirmed and struggled out of the locked seatbelt. She busted the window open and she could hear sirens. Had it really taken her that long to get out of the seatbelt? She didn't know. Her head was spinning so fast she felt herself swaying and she had to work to find her balance. She looked up and the flashing lights were the last thing she saw.

_(Meanwhile)_

6:54

She wasn't coming. That much was perfectly clear.

She wasn't even answering her phone. This was really the end. She had sounded doubtful on the phone, but he had been hoping she'd be willing to give him one last chance.

At first he didn't blame her. He had been telling himself for months she deserved better, he was only person in the world who truly understood how perfect she was… she didn't even know it… otherwise she would have never stuck around. Maybe she had finally figured it out…

After one drink, he was annoyed he had even tried. She wouldn't come… why would she? Now he got to sit here and be fully reminded of just how much he had screwed everything up.

After two drinks, he was annoyed she hadn't told him she wasn't coming. She could have saved him all this wasted time and effort… and hope. He should have known better. He remembered the beautiful vision he once had of their future… curly-haired brown-eyed babies with her eyes and his attitude.

After three he began to cry.

After four he was angry and couldn't believe that after all he had sacrificed for her she wouldn't give him one last chance.

After five he began throwing things… then had some more…

_(Meanwhile)_

"Yea I have it here," she heard a voice that sounded miles away "Um… says Michelle Almeida, age 32…hey her eyes are opening."

Michelle blinked and squeezed her eyes closed, the lights were so bright. She opened them again and realized she was in the back of an ambulance "What the-"

"Are you ok ma'am?" the paramedic holding her wallet asked.

"I'm fine, I need to go," she said urgently.

"You passed out, don't worry we are taking you to the hospital."

"I don't want to go to the hospital, I'm not seriously injured," she argued.

"No, you sustained no major injuries, but you may have a concussion."

"I know the signs to look for, I'll be fine, but I need to leave."

"When we get to the hospital we can discharge you, but for now we are going to have to ask you to lay back and relax."

An hour later she hurried out of the hospital and took a cab to the house.

Michelle cautiously opened the door "Tony?" she called. She could hear the TV in the living room. She stopped when she saw an empty 6 pack on the kitchen table. An icy feeling washed over as she felt all hope slip away from her and suddenly her mind and heart were at war. Her mind knew she should turn and leave right away before she could see anymore, before she could see _him_, before he could say anything, before she could get hurt… but her heart wanted him so badly that somehow her feet were still moving in that direction. She closed her eyes for a second to regain her composure then proceeded into the kitchen bracing herself for what she might find. She saw some broken dishes in the sink… it was clear there had been a meal prepared and she felt terrible she hadn't been there. She winced at the number of messages on the answering machine. She pushed play "First unheard message sent July third at 6:45PM 'Tony I've had enough... your fired, I can't keep you if I can't rely on you... you're never on time, constantly missing work and if you do show up your hammered... so you're off the schedule...you're done...tell Michelle I'm sorry' Next message sent July tenth at 3:24PM 'Hey guys it's me again... Mom... just calling to check on you... please call me... I don't know if I did something to upset you or-'" Michelle pushed 'stop' as tears rolled down her cheeks... he wasn't sober... he couldn't even keep his job... she had hoped so much to come home to _her _Tony... but again she was disappointed. She turned around and headed into the living room... Tony was passed out on the couch surrounded by empty beer bottles. More tears ran down her face as covered her mouth to suppress a sob.

His head jerked... he heard her...the sound of her crying was one thing that would always wake him. He stared at her in astonishment "You came?" he asked in a heavy drunken voice.

"Unfortunately," she nodded trying to regain composure and failing. "I came to have my broken heart shattered… and here we are."

He gaped. "No... Michelle it's not my fault," he said beginning to lose his himself as he realized the huge mistake he had just made. "You were late!" he yelled frantically.

She couldn't take it. She spun around heading for the door. "_You promised_" she cried.

"I thought you WEREN'T COMING!" he roared.

She shuttered at the sound of his voice. "You lied!" she turned around yelling back "YOU _LIED_ TO _ME_!"

He stopped in his tracks and the sound of her yelling. "You were late!" he argued lamely.

"There was an accident" she snipped angrily, not wanting or needing his pity at this point, "How's your job going?"

He became angry at her accusatory tone. "FINE!"

She opened the door and stepped outside shaking her head. She turned around and gazed into his eyes with deep hurt as her makeup ran down her face with the tears. She shook her head and whispered the words she remembered his grandmother once telling her. She looked up and knew he'd remember that day too "Love doesn't lie"

And she was gone.

_Should've kissed you there  
I should've held your face  
I should've watched those eyes  
Instead of run in place  
I should've called you out  
I should've said your name  
I should've turned around  
I should've looked again_

Should've held my ground  
I could've been redeemed  
For every second chance  
That changed its mind on me  
I should've spoken up  
I should've proudly claimed  
That oh my head's to blame  
For all my heart's mistakes

And it's you, and it's you  
And it's you, and it's you  
And it's falling down, as you walk away  
And it's on me now, as you go

But oh, I'm staring at the mess I made  
I 'm staring at the mess I made  
I 'm staring at the mess I made  
As you turn, you take your heart and walk away


	116. Chapter 116 Perfect

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Jason Derulo_)

~ Chapter 116 ~

"That's it I'm coming in Michelle!" Bill called through the door.

Michelle's eyes shot open as she suddenly became aware of the cold hard pressure on her forehead. Bill opened the door and she sat up.

"Are you okay?" Bill rushed over with worry.

Michelle's head was spinning…she had lost consciousness, this probably meant the paramedic had been right… the vomiting, loss of consciousness, dizziness and this awful headache…. Definitely a concussion… no big deal, this wasn't her first. "Uh yea"

"Did you fall asleep?" he asked sitting on her desk in front of her.

"Um, I guess so… woke up early this morning" she stumbled over her words.

"You were here early?" Bill asked.

"Yea, got here about 6ish" she said rubbing her head and reaching for her water.

"6am?" he gasped "That _is_ early, I didn't even see your car outside"

"I took a cab" she said swallowing a mouthful of water.

He raised an eyebrow "Why?"

Michelle paused "I totaled the Denali" she sighed.

Bill eyes were wide with fear "Oh my God, are you ok?"

Michelle nodded "I think I have a concussion, but nothing major"

"A concussion is 'nothing major'?" he asked in astonishment.

The smallest hint of a smile appeared on her face "I've had much worse" she said and it disappeared.

"What happened last night Michelle?" he said and she knew he was asking about the accident and Tony, connecting the dots in all the wrong ways.

She looked down "Head-on, the guy was passing in my lane, he was drunk, it wasn't my fault" she said defensively and this was all true, although she definitely could have avoided the accident if she had been paying attention.

"A drunk driver?"

"Yea go figure" she said dryly "Some kid… he was in way worse condition than me, but they said he'll be okay… I hope so at least"

"You _are_ amazing" he smiled "You are sitting here worrying about some guy that almost killed you hoping he'll be okay… or maybe you have acquired a soft spot for people who drink too much"

Her glared snapped to him "I'm leaving" she stood angrily heading for the door.

"Look Michelle, before you leave hating me for that, can I just say one thing?" he said softly as she reached the door.

She stopped but didn't turn around, he knew this was his signal to continue.

"You are an incredible woman with a huge heart. It amazes me to see the compassion you have for those you don't even know and undying loyalty you show for the people you care about… and that's a beautiful thing, the world could use more people like you… but Michelle… you are running yourself into the ground." He sighed "I know he was perfect, I know you loved him"

"I _love_ him"

"I know… that undying loyalty" he admitted "But, I think that passion is clouding you from seeing that… he's changed… he's not the man you married, I think you know it, but the idea hurts so much you try to pretend it isn't true" Michelle felt Bill tug on her arm to turn her around, but she didn't budge "The longer you hold on to him trying to change who he has become… Michelle you are _torturing_ yourself, spinning out of control trying to change him" Bill stepped in between her and the door and he could now see the tears streaming down her face "If there's anything I've learned in this life, it's that you can't change a person"

_(A few days later)_

"So what kinda car ya looking for?" A short man in a navy blue suit smiled at Michelle.

Her expression was blank "I don't have anything specific in mind"

"Hmm… uh well, what do you like? Commuter car, sports car, convertible, SUV?"

"It really doesn't matter" she rubbed her forehead.

"Ok… well what kinda price-range we looking at?"

"That's not an issue"

"Alright" the man smiled thinking of the most expensive car he had in his small lot "Come right over here I have a Mercedes ML320 I can see you in"

"I'll take it" she said pulling out her purse.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Tony!" Jen looked up smiling with relief "Where ya been the past few days?"

He looked up and she caught that he was in a bad mood "Nothin, just screwing my life up as usual" he grumbled taking his spot at the counter.

"I'm sure it's not that bad" Jen tried as she slid his drink toward him.

"You're right…I'm miserable, can't get a job AND NOW my wife wants a divorce…everything's PERFECT!" he growled angrily.

"She's _divorcing_ you?" Jen said trying to hide her excitement. She figured his princess would bail eventually.

He was too angry to answer, too angry to even think about the papers he had received this morning, so instead he gazed up at the game trying to forget the topic.

Jen waited a minute or two for him to cool down "Well… this will probably be better for you guys right? I mean you've been living apart anyway and all you guys do is fight so… she's better off and you're better off…right?"

Tony thought. The past few days had been full of anger and guilt. He knew she deserved better, but somehow it didn't seem fair. Maybe Jen was right, maybe she was better off without him.

_Yeah, you make me_

_You make me_

_I really lost my mind,_

_Trying to figure out a way,_

_To make you understand,_

_I can't go on another day,_

_Baby I was wrong,_

_Been confused and led astray,_

_Please gimme one more chance,_

_Cuz I can't take what's happening,_

It was only 8 o'clock but Michelle was in bed. She was completely exhausted and knew she wouldn't sleep, but she went to bed anyway. She curled up next to Garren stroking him gently. She had been letting him sleep in the bed with her ever since his accident. He was just beginning to walk again and she didn't want him out of her sight. He was her baby and she liked to keep him close. Garren sighed happily as she scratched his ears and then closed his eyes. She had nowhere else to be and no desire or strength to do anything but lay in silence. She remembered days that were too short, days that she wished would last forever… times when life was full to the max with love…

_Scratch scratch_

"_Garren cut it out!" Tony said with the pillow clutched over his head. He was never gonna get to sleep. He always had trouble sleeping without her, but this was the worst it had ever been. He was so close to having her, all of her, completely and undeniably, _forever._ He had never been more excited for anything in all his life. It was all he could think about and Gina and her stupid rules were driving him crazy. They had been sleeping wrapped in each others' arms for almost a year now and with the excitement of the wedding tomorrow he would never be able to sleep…and Garren crying at the door for Michelle didn't help either. _

'_Some guard dog' Tony thought as Garren let out another dramatic cry. Tony had bought Garren with the idea that he would protect Michelle, but when it came to Michelle Garren was the biggest baby. He would sit by the window and watch for her car, cry if she didn't come home at night and lick her to death when she finally did come home. He had no doubt Garren could and would fight for her and Tony smiled because so would he._

'_That's it!' Tony said jumping out of the bed. Ten minutes later he pulled up to Gina's house. He hoped she wasn't as invested in these rules as Gina was because he really needed to see her. He walked around to the guest bedroom window and tapped lightly on the window. He saw Michelle's head shoot up. She didn't turn on the lights (she knew better). He tapped again and she slowly moved closer to the window. He couldn't see her face, but he knew it the second she saw it was him. Her body relaxed and she was at the window in seconds smiling. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled the window open "What are you _doing_" she giggled "You scared me half to death!"_

"_Who else would be tapping at your window huh?" he smiled reaching in and taking her hand and pulling it out the window to kiss it._

"_I don't know, I've never had someone come knocking at my window" she smiled._

_He grinned at her innocence "Well then let me tell you how this works. You open the window up a little further…"she did this as he said it, then stopped._

_She glanced back at the bedroom door "If Gina finds out-"she stopped and helped him through the window. Once his feet were back on the floor her wrapped her in his arms and she fell silent, it felt so nice to be back exactly where she belonged in his arms. She sighed happily against his chest which was warm and full of her favorite scent, him. _

"_I missed you today" she whispered._

_He took a step backward but pulled her with him as he reached over to lock the bedroom door "I missed you too sweetheart" he said sweeping her off her feet and laying her down gently in the bed, following her down, never allowing their bodies to be more than an inch apart. He slipped his shoes off and pulled her as close to him as possible as he gazed down at her. A smile spread across his face._

"_What?" she smiled back._

_He didn't know how to answer, he just knew he couldn't help but smile as the perfection of this moment with her and the thought of this being his forever. His eyes roamed her beautiful face then travels down her neck to her half-exposed bare shoulder, he felt excitement and desire building inside as he imagined what he'd be doing in 24 hours. His smile grew"_

"_Whatttt?" she pushed on his chest gently. She looked up and stared right through his eyes and became nervous "Don't get too excited, I'm probably not that great"_

_This broke his concentration; he had been so lost in how much he loved her that this had taken him by surprise "Not great at what?"_

_She cocked her head sideways as if to say 'You know exactly what I mean'_

_He instantly realized what she meant and smiled "What? Are you nervous?" he chuckled._

_Her smile twisted into a mock-frown "You are not helping"_

"_I'm not… you're right, I'm sorry" he said "It just seems silly to me because, to me its absurd that woman with such a beautiful face, sexy body and heart of gold could possibly be worried that she wouldn't be enough" he stroked her face "Trust me baby, you have absolutely nothing to worry about… you'll already more than enough" he smiled pushing a curl behind her ear._

_She kissed him softly, for once not feeling the least bit nervous or self-conscious about sex. She ran her hands down his back and continued to kiss him more intensely, taking his hands and bringing them under her shirt, inviting them to roam freely. The instinctually followed her lead and began caressing her softly. She moaned and the erotic sound reminded him of what he was doing "'chelle" he breathed "Baby we gotta-" he was cut off by her covering his mouth with hers. She pushed herself up against him and at this he broke the kiss and his hands gripped her hips and pushed her body away from his "Baby we gotta stop before I can't"_

_She nodded and tried to catch her breath. A smile spread across her face and she looked down at his pants "But uh…" she pointed._

_He was staring at the ceiling nodding "Yea… I know" he sighed, pulling himself up "One more day… one more day… one more day" he said to himself as he sat up. He heard her giggling and turned back and smiled sarcastically "I'm glad you find this funny"_

"_I'm sorry" she laughed._

_After a moment she stopped laughing but her smile did not fade. "You know," she said "In 21 hours we will be on our honeymoon"_

"_Yes I know… 1260 minutes… I'm counting" he replied._

"_Are you ok?" she asked._

"_I'm fine, it's not the first time you've done this to me, just the first time you've noticed"_

_She smiled "Sorry"_

_He turned and smiled in response "Don't be"_

"_So… can you come back over here now? I miss you already. I'll behave, I promise"_

"_Yea one second" he said._

_A minute later he crawled beside her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close "I can't wait until you are my husband" Michelle whispered._

"_And I can't wait until you are mine forever"_

"_I'm already yours forever"_

How could those days of beautiful bliss have come and gone so quickly while _these_ days were long, cold and utterly empty. By this time Michelle was crying so hard she felt like she might be sick. She ran to the bathroom and turned on the water in the sink leaning her head over it ready for whatever came.

_Have you ever lost someone_

_Tried take it back but the damage is done,_

_Thought of losing you makes me feel so sad,_

_How am I gonna sleep when it feels this bad?_

Tony sat at the table with his head in his hands staring down at the divorce papers with two empty lines. One for his signature, one for hers. He was one signature away from losing his best friend and so was she.

_I know that I deserve this_

_But have you really lost all faith?_

_You know inside that we're worth it_

_There's so much left for us to say_

_Baby I was lost_

Or maybe I was just afraid

_Could you please forgive me?_

_And hold me in your arms again_

He picked up the pen and twirled it in his fingers. A tear rolled down his face. He remembered holding her hands and staring into her glittering beautiful and excited eyes as the pastor announced them husband and wife. He threw the pen and put the papers back in the bag storming off to the bedroom. He slammed himself down fighting tears as much as he could and failing. He slowly pulled out his wallet slipping out the small picture. He looked at it and cried as he looked at their happy faces and wishes he could go back.

_Don't say "nothing's perfect" cuz it isn't true_

Everything I need is here with you

_Everything I see is so clear with you_

_Everything I dream of is with you_

_Everything could be so… perfect_

She looked up into the mirror and winced at what she saw. It didn't look the way she was used to it looking. She was used to seeing a confident, beautiful woman wearing a smile with handsome, happy man in the background with his arms around her. Not this time.

_I know enough's enough,_

_It's going to be tough to get through this,_

_I'll never be perfect,_

_I'll never be cool,_

_I'll always be nothing unless I'm with you,_

_Cuz you make me perfect,_

_Tell me what can I do,_

_The pieces are missing,_

_When I'm not with you,_

_You make me…_

_When I'm with you baby_

_You make me…_

_You make me perfect_

So perfect 


	117. Chapter 117 Just a Feeling

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Maroon 5_)

*Many people are wondering so I will just say it… Chapter 120 will be season 4, so for those who can't wait, don't worry, its coming:)*

~ Chapter 117 ~

"YOU _LIED_ TO _ME_!" she screamed with tears streaming down her face.

"No!" he called rushing to the door, wedging himself between her and the open doorway "Please Michelle" he pleaded, his voice breaking under the stress.

"You promised to love me forever!" she cried taking a step back from him. Her whole body was shaking from her hysterical crying "You said you'd _never_ hurt me"

"Miche-"

"You should have just _let_ me die if it's gonna be like this… because I'd rather die than lose the man I loved… but you're not even there are you?" she shook her head reaching out for the wall to hold herself up "You're not the man I used to love!"

_I watched you cry  
Bathed in sunlight  
By the bathroom door  
You said you wished you did not love me anymore_

You left your flowers in the backseat of my car  
The things we said and did have left permanent scars  
Obsessed depressed at the same time  
I can't even walk in a straight line  
I've been lying in the dark no sunshine  
No sunshine

I can't believe that it's over  
You've hit your low  
You've lost control and you want me back  
You may not believe me but I gave you all I have  
Oh just confess that you're still mine  
I roll around in a bed full of tears  
I'm still lying in the dark no sunshine  
No sunshine

She cries 

"_This is more than goodbye  
When I look into your eyes, _

_you're not even there"_

No I can't believe that it's over now baby  
So much to say  
It's not the way she does her hair  
It's the way she seems to stare right through my eyes  
And in my darkest day when she refused to run away  
The love she tried so hard to save

It's just a feeling  
Just a feeling  
Just a feeling that I have

I can't believe that it's over

"I'm still here" he said quietly then closed the gap between them taking her face into his hands "I'm _still_ here" he insisted looking into her eyes "And will never stop loving you"

"Tony…" and unfamiliar voice called "Tony!" it sounded grumpier.

He opened his eyes and was suddenly in the worst of moods. He looked over and saw Jen pulling herself out of bed "Can I borrow your truck today, mine's in the shop"

"No" he said grumpily rolling back over, wishing that he could just go back and live in his dream where Michelle was just about to listen to him… she was just about to fall into his arms and forgive him… he was just about to kiss her head and hold her close and never let go…"

"Seriously Tony?" Jen growled "Where do you need to go? Just give me the keys"

Her voice was killing his dream. He picked up the keys from the night stand and tossed them over his shoulders.

"Thanks" she rolled her eyes and left.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Guess what honey" Corey smiled.

Gina was staring into the mirror silently in the bathroom. She sighed and flicked the light off heading into the bedroom "What?"

Corey smiled holding up a small blue stack "The wedding invitations are ready to go out"

"I was gonna do those" she said quietly, taking them and examining them.

"I know, but you've been so busy… you like them though right?"

"They're beautiful" she admitted softly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Can we just hold off on sending these?" she pleaded.

"What do you mean? Why?" he asked quickly as fear flashed through his expression.

"Its just that I still haven't heard back from Michelle and Tony"

He nodded "Oh… look they probably just need some time"

"It's been months since we've heard from them" she said flatly. She looked away from him trying to hide the worry "I'm beginning to think things went wrong"

"Impossible. It's Tony and Michelle… they'll be fine" he smiled.

"I'm really beginning to doubt that" she said dropping the stack onto the bed.

"Hey" he said in a soothing tone "They really love each other right? So everything will be fine"

"I don't know anymore" she sighed.

"It sounds like this is about more than just Tony and Michelle"

"Look… I never wanted to settle down… I never believed in love, never dreamt of getting married or having kids… Seeing them and how perfect they were… that made me believe, that made me want all of this… and now…" her eyes were glassy "Now I don't know what to think"

"So…. What? You are doubting if you love me now?" he asked "Because of-"

"No!" she stopped him "I love you" she assured him "But now… seeing a marriage that was so perfect fall apart and how much pain they're in… they might not make it" she looked up at him with watery eyes "If they couldn't even make it work with all they had…"

"We're gonna make it" he said holding her "And so will they, but you can't let this change you"

"I'm not" she shrugged out of his hold and became defensive.

"You_ are_, you wanna call off your wedding because they are going through a rough patch and-" he began to explain.

"A 'rough patch?' That's a major understatement…. And I didn't say cancel the wedding… just postpone" she corrected.

"Same thing" he said beginning to get impatient.

"No _different_ thing" Gina said "I don't understand why we can't wait…"

"Wait for _what_?" he growled in frustration.

"I don't wanna rush into this without them just because-" she raised her voice to match his.

"Who's rushing? A few months ago you were fine with this"

"Things were different then"

"It doesn't _matter!_" he insisted.

"I want Michelle as my Maid of Honor and there is no _way_ I can walk down that aisle with a huge smile on my face if they aren't there…. I want our wedding day to be perfect and without them it won't be"

"Look, I know it will be sad if they don't come…. they're the first people who ever really cared about me… we were gonna have Tony give you away, but come on" he said with a hint of anger in his voice "you're being ridiculous"

"Oh well" she shrugged her shoulders, making it clear she wouldn't back down.

"'Oh well'?" he repeated in disbelief "Really? That's it?"

"For now… yea… that's it"

_(Meanwhile)_

"You didn't even eat your muffin" Bill commented as they stood up from the table at the small café they were in.

"I'm not a breakfast person, I never have been" she said forcing a small smile to show that she was ok.

"I've noticed you're not much of a lunch or dinner person either" he sighed with worry.

"How was your coffee? Mine didn't taste right" Michelle said trying to change the subject.

"Yea it was a little odd-tasting"

"I miss the coffee from this one place we used to go…" Michelle slowed herself realizing she was starting a conversation she didn't want to have, especially since she hadn't been to that coffee shop in over a year.

"Oh yea" Bill said interestedly, trying to ignore the 'we' which obviously had meant her and Tony. "What coffee shop is that?"

Michelle kicked herself internally "Umm" she stalled trying to think of something, but nothing came, she used to be so good at this "It's this small shop that was close to our house, we would stop there on the way to work sometimes" Every day… she thought sadly, she tried to downplay the topic "Their coffee was good… but I've had better" she lied.

_(Later that night)_

"Tony?" Mackenzie said almost breathlessly in disbelief. He didn't respond, she moved closer and he seemed to be lost in thought and completely drained "Tony!" she said when she had confirmed it was him.

He was startled as he looked up, but instead of the familiar smile she expected, he looked annoyed and embarrassed. He quickly looked back down at his drink "What are you doing here Mack?"

"I'm just a single girl making my rounds at local bars… I'm more curious about how _you're_ here… I thought you were…" she didn't want to say in jail "So the courts finally came to their senses or what?" she smiled hesitantly sitting down next to him.

"Presidential pardon" he muttered taking a drink.

"Ooo" she smiled, impressed "The _president_" she giggled but then stopped abruptly when he didn't smile with her "Ok really Tony, what's going on?" she said, "You're suddenly a free man, yet you look like hell"

"That's pretty much where I'm at"

"Why? What happened?" she asked, but he didn't respond, she decided to try a topic that was bound to make him smile "How's Michelle?"

He flinched and took another drink "I wouldn't know"

"What?" her mouth fell open in disbelief.

"Guess you're not the only single one here" he muttered angrily as he lifted his hand to show the absence of his ring.

She was in complete and total shock. She took a second to wrap her head around it and then quietly said "This would be my cue then"

"Save your breath I'm tired of the lectures… you won't be telling me anything I don't already know"

"Ya think so?" she said and then paused as if to gather her courage then looked up at him and spoke "I've had a crush on you since the fifth grade"

He looked at her like she was speaking a language he didn't understand.

"Yea so I guess this is my cue" she looked down at her drink "I've been dreaming of the day I'd get my chance…. Now you're here, single and vulnerable-"

"I'm not vulnerable… I'm angry….huge difference"

"This world is an ugly place Tony… life is hard and painful… but every once and awhile you can find beauty in the world and Tony… I've never seen anything more beautiful than what you and Michelle have" he was looking away and she pulled his face toward her "Look at me" she instructed "I could never bring myself to mess up something that perfect… I don't know how anyone could… which makes me wonder what the hell could have happened"

"She left, ok?"

"No, not 'ok.' _Why_ did she leave?"

"I guess I told her to" he mumbled.

"You're not making any sense"

"Yea well that's how it is… it doesn't make sense….I loved her with all my heart yet I didn't want to be around her… I wanted to tell her everything, yet I couldn't…I knew she'd understand but I wasn't willing to take the chance…. I wanted her close…but I pushed her away"

Mack sighed and looked down at the drink he kept sipping "I bet the drinking didn't help either"

"Sure, right, it was all my fault… you sound like everyone I talk to"

"Is there a problem here?" Jen, who was bartending walked up and said as politely as she could. She didn't like this girl who was way too close to her boyfriend.

"No, we're fine thank you" Mack said quickly turning back to Tony "That's not what I meant, I know you never meant to hurt her-"

"I think you need to leave" Jen interrupted her.

"Why?" Mack asked incredulously.

"I don't like the way you are talking to him" Jen said smugly, glad to show off her power.

"You're an awfully nosy bartender"

"I'm not just his bartender" Jen smiled.

Mack's eyes widened and she turned her glare to Tony. He kept his eyes down "Are you serious Tony?"

"Security!" Jen called.

"Don't bother, I'm leaving" Mack snapped then turned back to Tony "You had everything and now this _is_ your fault, because every minute you spend here" she glanced at Jen "throwing your life away, is a moment you could be happy" she slung her purse over her shoulder "Call me when you are ready to give this up for a better life"

"I gave up everything for her" he turned to her angrily "_This_ is what I got"

Mack had known Michelle long enough to know that it wasn't that simple and she was sure it had something to do with all his drinking. Before she got out of earshot she turned and said "I think you left her long before she walked out the door"

_(Meanwhile)_

"How was everyone's week?" Katie asked.

Michelle forced a smile "At least the weather has been better"

"Tell me about it" Allison nodded "Anyone want to order dessert?"

"We will have another bottle of wine, thank you very much" Liz flashed a cheesy, drunk smile at the young waiter and handed him the empty bottle.

"More wine?" Michelle asked.

"I think you've had enough" Allison rolled her eyes.

"Would you guys stop treating me like some drunk?"

Michelle fell silent and redirected her attention to her plate. She pushed her potatoes back and forth trying not to think of Tony.

"Sorry Michelle, she didn't realize" Katie said softly "She's a little…"

Michelle looked up and shook her head "No its fine"

"What?" Liz said "I can't say the word 'drunk'?" she covered her mouth "Oops I did it again" she giggled.

"Don't you think it's just a little insensitive to be drinking like this knowing what she's been through?" Allison asked.

"Oh please that was months ago"

"She's told us before, she doesn't want to talk about it" Allison reminded.

Michelle didn't look up again, she hated thinking about it at all and she really didn't feel like crying, she was okay with ignoring Liz… she just wanted everyone to drop it.

"When are you gonna get over him?" Liz asked with a smile and a roll of her eyes "I mean come on Michelle, we've all had tough break-ups, hell you even have… remember Jay? You gotta stop moping around and move on because this" she took another sip of wine indicating to Michelle "is sad"

Michelle swallowed, this was not a topic she had wanted to discuss, but she needed to end it once and for all "You think I have any control over this at all?" she narrowed her eyes "I don't think you've ever really understood how much I love him… It has been so strong that even after knowing him for over 3 years he could still… make my knees go weak with a smile" Allison gave her a pained smile, encouraging her to let it out "you know? So close that most of time I didn't have to say a word because he could look into my eyes and know exactly what I was going to say… I couldn't and still can't sleep without him next to me..." She looked out the window "it was so perfect that I could never imagine my life without him…and to this day I still can't" she looked back at her with glassy eyes "This wasn't just a break-up where things weren't working so it ended… I don't hate him… he wasn't cheating on me… he's lost and won't let me help him and it's too much for me to watch and not try to help him because he's in so much pain… I couldn't stand watching it… he's drowning and he won't let me save him… and I just can't bear to watch the man I love with every ounce of my being drowning himself… I left to get his attention, it didn't work I guess… I don't know… but we're not just 'broken up' and I'm not just moping around…this is the most painful thing I've ever felt because I feel attached to him in every single way but … I just can't reach him anymore… so leave it alone" she stood up and went to the bathroom.

(The next morning)

"Good morning" Bill smiled as he stood in front of her door with flowers.

Michelle's face dropped but she quickly forced a wide smile "Flowers? What for?"

"You've been down lately" he said.

She smiled for real at the epic understatement of the year "Yea you could say that"

"I wasn't sure which kinds you liked or whatever, but I thought these were bright so…"

"They're great" she hugged him "Thank you"

"If flowers are all it takes to bring that smile back, I'll have them every morning" he smiled, proud of his apparent success.

"You're sweet" she said putting them in a vase.

"I really care about you"

This was always the awkward part… Michelle and Bill had been technically sort of dating for a few weeks, they barely ever kissed because secretly Michelle felt weird kissing him, but she did really like him, out of everyone he was most understanding and pretty much the only person who didn't look at her and think of Tony and their happier days. Bill was more than happy to never discuss and Michelle liked this most.

Sensing she wasn't going to return the statement he changed the subject "You ready to go?" he smiled.

"Yes" she sighed, again so happy that he was easy to be around.

But a few minutes later she kicked herself for jinxing it as he pulled up to what used to be her and Tony's favorite place to stop for coffee "What are we doing here?"

"This is the place you said had good coffee, I figured it's on the way, right?"

"Yea" it was very convenient, she knew from experience… too much experience. She nodded and followed him inside keeping her head down. As they stood in line she finally raised her eyes and was relieved to see that she didn't recognize the person working behind the counter.

"So what do you suggest?" Bill asked.

"Michelle?" Michelle cringed at the familiar voice… she used to love coming in to talk to RJ, but she knew that he, like everyone else would instantly figure out what had happened and be determined to fix everything… as if it were possible. She turned and waved and then tried to look interested in the menu board. "Come on over darling" he smiled opening up another register and inviting her to the front of the line. She couldn't say no so she forced a smile and tried not to drag her feet as she walked over with Bill following close behind.

RJ's expression turned slightly surprised when Bill came with her "I'm sorry sir, this register isn't open" he smiled politely.

"I'm with her" Bill said to the balding older man, putting his arm around Michelle.

RJ's expression dropped and for a minute he seemed to be in shock. He then turned his gaze down to Michelle, his eyes filled with sadness and disbelief "What happened?"

Michelle took a step toward the counter to break away from Bill to make it less awkward for RJ "I uh-" Michelle began, not sure where the sentence was going.

"I mean… he was free… right? You guys were here and…" he gripped the counter and continued to stare at her "Michelle what happened?"

Michelle glanced away and then returned her stare to him "He uh… he didn't want me around anymore" she said quickly trying not to think about the words, if she did, she knew she'd lose it.

RJ looked at her as if to say 'You and I both know that's not true' but he didn't push it, he saw her eyes becoming glassy and nodded "Right" He turned around and began making her coffee exactly how she liked it with all the extra ingredients he knew she used to love. He handed her the coffee and watched her closely as if trying to pull the truth from her eyes, but it wasn't going to happen.

"How much do I owe ya?" Bill asked pulling out his wallet with a smile.

RJ looked up at him "For what?" he asked. Bill indicated to the coffee Michelle was pulling off the counter. RJ shook his head "She doesn't get charged"

Michelle smiled softly "Thank you RJ"

His gaze fell back to her "Take care of yourself honey and please… come back and talk to me sometime"

Michelle nodded and they turned and left. Once they were out in the car and Bill started the engine Michelle looked over at him "I'm sorry about that… he's just…"

Bill sighed and rolled his eyes putting the car in gear. He wasn't angry with her, but he didn't like that every person he met with Michelle instantly hated him because he wasn't Tony, it didn't seem fair, but it wasn't her fault. He glanced over and said "I know… he's a Tony and Michelle fan…. Who isn't…"


	118. Chapter 118 Holdin' On

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 118 ~

Bill's favorite part of his day was about to begin and it made him smile as he pulled up to Michelle's apartment. He picked up the flowers from the passenger seat and headed toward her door. He went to knock but his hand never touched the door because it opened and Dr. Mackey almost walked right into him, she was turned around "I'm serious Michelle" she said then stopped quickly when she saw him "Oh sorry"

"Thanks again Cadie" Michelle called in a weak voice.

"No problem Michelle, I'll be back tomorrow" she called back "Hi Bill" she smiled politely then tried to get past him.

"How is she?" Bill asked his eyes full of concern.

Cadence sighed; she wasn't a huge fan of Bill "Not great" she said simply.

"Did she ask you about changing her medication? It doesn't seem to be helping much"

"A change of medication is not what she needs" she said "Look," she sighed "Just make sure she eats and rests"

"I do" Bill said semi-defensively.

"Ok thank you" she said pushing past him.

Bill walked into the living room "How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

She looked up and smiled "Better, just tired" Michelle felt bad for Bill. She could tell he really, really cared for her, but naturally everyone was against him because they were all loyal to Tony. She didn't understand why he put up with all of it. People brushing him off and giving him dirty looks, he couldn't even hold her hand when they were around, but he dealt with it gracefully. And worse, Michelle had to be the worst girlfriend ever… she was utterly broken and constantly sick, she wasn't romantic or playful with him, but there was something about her he liked and she couldn't think of what it could be, but she appreciated his company and knew he wouldn't hurt her, she had every reason to be with him but every piece of her longed for someone else.

"Doctor Mackey says you need plenty of rest" he nodded "By the way I'm pretty hungry, I was thinking of ordering something, would you like anything?"

"That's ok" she said laying her head down on the pillow as he ordered his food.

When he was finished he sat down on the end of the couch near her feet, he knew she needed her space. He pulled her feet which were wrapped in the blanket onto his lap and patted them "I missed you today at the office"

"I wish I could have been there" she said sincerely.

"You look exhausted" he said noticing that the bags under her eyes were getting worse.

She gave a half-hearted smile "Yea, I am"

They both turned their attention to the TV and then Bill went and answered the door for his food. When he came back her eyes were closed so he turned down the TV.

Michelle was delirious in a half-sleep as a dream began where Tony had walked in to her apartment silently smiling. He crawled onto the couch like he used to, except he climbed behind her on top of the covers instead of inside them like he normally would and this time he wrapped his arms around the outside of the blankets holding her in a loose hug which was also not normal, normally he would snake his arms under her shirt and pull her back tightly against his chest, holding her tight with his warm arms almost wrapping around her twice, resting on her hips. His chest was just barely touching her but it wasn't soft and muscular, it was flat and firm. This was all very odd but it allowed her to sleep so she smiled and fell into a deeper sleep then she had been in for almost two weeks.

A small whining caused Michelle to jump. When she opened her eyes and jumped off the couch she looked back and realized it had not been a dream, Bill was laying on the couch where she just was with his arms open. He looked up at her waiting for her reaction "Garren" she explained and then disappeared down the hall. He listened to her "Hey buddy, what? You're ok… oh… ok, its ok I got ya" He heard rapid footsteps until she appeared hurrying toward the back door, struggling under the dog's weight.

He jumped up "Michelle! Let me help you"

"Door" she quickly instructed and he pulled it open and she ran out into the rain with the dog "Ahh there we go" she said in a happy voice to encourage him "That's a good boy"

"Michelle you're gonna get even sicker, it's raining!" Bill called.

"I'll live… he needs me" she said back "That's my boy, you all done?"

"Michelle" he pleaded and just as he said it the dog came slowly limping through the door, taking great care with each step.

"He had to go, what was I gonna do? It was an emergency and he can't move fast enough so he called me"

"I know but you're sick"

"So is he… the doctor says he has at least another 2 weeks until he can walk normally"

"Ok, ok let's get you warmed up"

_(Meanwhile)_

"What do you want for dinner?" Jen called from the kitchen.

"Doesn't matter" Tony said taking the last sip of his beer.

"You are such a pain in the ass" she grunted.

"Right back at you" he said lazily.

"Yea well you're a no-good old drunk" she yelled with a smirk.

"You're a piece of trash ho" he chuckled.

"Yea right, don't even put out" she crossed her arms.

"That's a _man_'s complaint… you stole my insult" he said lazily taking another drink of his beer.

She broke out laughing and so did he. "You're such a jerk" she laughed "I'm making meatloaf"

"I hate meatloaf" he groaned.

"That's the point" she smiled taking out spaghetti.

_(Later)_

"I'm so glad you are feeling better" Bill smiled as he and Michelle walked through the park.

"Me too" she smiled back.

"That kid looks like he's up to no good" Bill said pointing to a 12 year old about 30 feet away.

Michelle shrugged her shoulders "Maybe, maybe not… young boys always look like they're up to no good"

"That's because it's usually true" Bill chuckled.

"Miss?" they heard from behind them. They turned and the boy was holding up Michelle's car keys "These yours?"

Michelle nodded and he handed them to her "Thank you so much" she smiled and looked up at Bill.

He smiled and shook his head "Wow, you were right" he laughed.

"What people look like at first, isn't always what they are… you have to judge people sometimes by how they look, but only when you have nothing else to go on… but sometimes it can be _very_ inaccurate"

"That's true" he said "When I first met you, I thought you were one of those people who's always sad, has ten cats and is boring and-"

"Then you found out I have a dog instead of cats" she laughed.

"You think you're sad and boring?" Bill asked.

"I'm not joyful and exciting" she answered.

"You're beautiful and caring" he said.

She looked away, she wished this conversation would end. For some reason these compliments were really bothering her. She knew there was only one thing that could get her out of this "Wanna get something to eat?"

"You're hungry?" he asked in surprise "Yea lets go!"

She wasn't.

_(Later)_

"Alright seriously Tony, you still didn't take out the garbage?" Jen sighed angrily.

"Relax, I'll get it later"

"You know, I don't even ask much from you…hell I wash your clothes, do your shopping, make your food… the least you can do is take out the trash"

"And I pay your rent, but its _fine! _I'll go then!" he snapped getting up. He stormed outside, jumped in his car and drove off in an angry fit. He hated when she acted like he was some charity case, he didn't need her, the only reason he was with her was because he didn't like being alone all day and she didn't ask too many questions…she left him alone a lot and he liked that…even if she was a bitch a lot…even if he felt like he didn't belong there… he liked that she kept away, she didn't try to talk to him about his feelings, she didn't try to sleep in his arms…like Michelle would… no matter where he would go to sleep, in the middle of the night she would always wind up in his arms and as he shook with nightmares he would scare her and once he almost hurt her by accident, this is why he started sleeping in the guest room with the door locked. He couldn't control his dreams and he couldn't control what he did in his sleep and he _definitely_ could not stand waking up to her eyes full of fear… fear of _him_, that killed him…and the night he woke up with his hands squeezing her was the final straw… of course when he was drunk he had blamed her for not leaving him alone, but he never forgave himself for the nights he had scared her like that. She was so soft, so innocent and should never have had to go through that. He missed sleeping with her, he missed her greeting him at the door when he came home from work after her, he missed her 'helping' him cook… these were things he'd never have with another woman and he wished he could have it back. He pulled over and pulled out his wallet which held a small beat up picture of him and Michelle, he pulled it out at least twice every day.

_There's a voicemail on his cell phone  
He don't dare erase  
She ended with "I love you"  
And he saves it just in case_

_It might still be true  
No, he ain't through  
_

_He's holdin' on to the wheel  
On to the way she made him feel  
On to the shifter, on to the pictures  
Every precious moment with her  
Like the left behind colors in the sky  
When the sun is gone  
He's holdin' on_

To the past  
To the last time he held her  
Her breath on his neck  
The three words she said  
Oh, he's holdin' on

He wiped the wetness from his eyes, he wanted so badly to have another chance… she had been late… she had ruined his second chance and it wasn't fair… he had been so ready to apologize and make everything better and she had shown up late 'Work must have been more important' he thought cynically as he shoved the picture back into his wallet, she clearly hadn't wanted a second chance with him. After all he had done for her…she didn't want to allow him a second chance, it wasn't important enough. He pulled into Jen's driveway and she was sitting on the front steps.

"Tony" she jumped up and ran to him "Tony I'm sorry, really"

He stopped and eyed her angrily "I hate it when you do that… hold this over my head"

"You're right… I shouldn't have done that… and look… you have nowhere to go and I _want_ you here… I do" she said putting her hand on his chest.

He considered this, he was wanted here… she wanted him to be here, he liked this… even if it was only to get him back inside, he was willing to go with it, as long as he could have a beer as soon as they got inside "Even if I'm a no-good old drunk?"

She was relieved that she had calmed him down and he was making a joke "You are not that much older than me" she said and he smiled "And yea, I want you here…better than sleeping at my bar"

_(Later)_

"Ready darling?" Bill smiled over at her, ready to help her out of the car and into the restaurant.

She noticed he had been getting a lot more comfortable with her lately, she could see it in his eyes and it scared the hell out of her, why did he care so much? Why couldn't she care more? "Yes" she smiled, she was trying so hard to let this work, he was so nice and so perfect yet she never got butterflies, her knees never went weak… maybe it was better this way… she was way more in control of herself in this relationship. So many times with Tony, her heart took control and her body would react in ways she never thought possible without any thought, but with Bill there was a distance, there was thought between feelings and actions and that control was very nice.

"You look beautiful tonight" he said as he slid his hand across her back…. No wild tingling from his touch, no sudden urge to kiss him…she was calm.

Dinner was simple and so was the conversation, she was smiling as much as possible and trying to have fun… he looked like he was, every time she smiled his eyes glowed and she liked seeing him happy so it continued until he looked up.

"I love you," Bill said softly.

She froze and stared at him taken aback and her face suddenly very sad. She shook her head slowly "No... no, this isn't love"

"Wh- What do you mean?" he said as he felt his heart break.

Her eyes began to water she looked away for a few seconds then stared him straight in the eye "I've had love… the best kind… the real kind… the kind everyone dreams of…. and this" she paused "…this isn't it" she said trying not to cry at the thought.

"Well a strong love, a true love, needs to be built Michelle." He said taking her hands, which were folded together into a ball, but they didn't separate, her two hands stayed together as if they were glued… never opening to meet his.

He looked up at her as single tear fell down her face "That's where you're wrong" she took a deep breath "That love is either there or it's not, you can't create that kind of perfect, true love" He looked at her trying to figure out what she meant… she noticed this and continued "That dream kind of love that is absolutely unbreakable… the thing you're looking for in me… the kind you deserve to have… that can't be just made by any two people… it's natural… and it's there and you feel it all the time... whether you like it or not."

"What do you mean?"

She looked down "We didn't want to fall in love" seeing his confusion she clarified "Tony and I… we didn't really want to fall in love, not particularly" She looked into his eyes "From afar I was everything he didn't want… he had just been betrayed by a woman that in a lot ways was everything I seemed to be… so he didn't want me… and I had a boyfriend at the time and even after that I wasn't up to another relationship, but… it was like everything just fell into place… we didn't have to work for it … it just came so naturally…" She wiped her nose "We fell in love so easily, we couldn't have stopped even if we wanted to, it was so strong, like an instinct we couldn't control"

"So what are you saying?" he asked fidgeting slightly, scared of the thing she was about to say.

"That I'm so...so sorry," Michelle said beginning to cry.

"Why? Why are you sorry?" He said inching closer to her trying to touch her.

She pulled away from him "Because I can't do this Bill… I can't keep pretending to be able to do this... because I just can't"

"What do you mean? Why?"

"I spend all my nights lying awake fighting it, my free time alone, all my energy, I barely eat… I try so hard, and I've been fighting it for months now and I'm exhausted… I can't win, it's so much stronger than I am… I don't want to fight anymore… I can't fight anymore"

"What? Why are you fighting?"

"Because… I'm in love with him… and no matter how much I fight it… I'm still in love with him" she choked on her emotion, which was rising "I'm still in love with him and there is nothing I can do about it."


	119. Chapter 119 Close

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 119 ~

It was dark, but who needed light? What was there to see? Her life was ruined. There was once a day not long ago when her future was filled with the best husband ever, a beautiful home and a bunch of happy children… now her future was what haunted her every night. She had everything but she lost it all and now, and what little she was managing to salvage was just blown to hell. She pulled her knees to her chest as she sat on the floor of the closet. Bill had been the only good thing, the only stable thing she had going, but now that was over. She hated hurting him but she couldn't keep leading him on, it was wrong. So instead she sat in the closet alone, next to a box that smelled like home. She looked over and touched the box next to her, knowing that what was inside would hurt her, but not caring. She opened it slowly and pulled out Tony's sweatshirt. She buried her face in it and breathed in the familiar scent. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend he was there, but it was no use, it just brought more tears.

_It's just another simple voicemail message  
"I'll pick you up and we'll do dinner by the fire  
And we'll just watch it snow"  
…It's from a year ago…  
"Baby, I love you and I can't wait to see you tonight  
I've been thinking about you all day long"  
She pushes nine to save  
She still can't erase_

It's just a worn out  
Notre Dame t-shirt  
She's gotten mad  
And tried to throw that thing away  
At least a hundred times  
…But she's got it on tonight  
He used to wear it on the weekend just runnin' around  
Probably forgot he even left it behind  
…She says it keeps her warm  
Oh, but it's so much more

_It makes her feel close  
Makes her smile  
It's like he's with her almost  
Til the tears take over…  
She's still in hell  
But she tells herself  
She's ready to let him go  
….'Cause that makes her feel close_

"Michelle?" she heard and snapped out of her crying. She slowed her breathing as much as possible to hear "Michelle where are you?" she heard Bill ask.

The voice sounded only a few feet away and then suddenly the closet door slid out of the way and cool air hit her as he knelt down and looked at her with sad eyes.

"Michelle," he said softly and waited a moment as he looked at her "Wanna come out?" he tried gently.

She shook her head and pulled the sweatshirt closer hoping he wouldn't guess who it belonged to.

"Okay" he said sitting down outside the closet "I'll join you then"

They sat in silence for a minute or two while Michelle struggled to bring her breathing under control and blink away the dizziness. "I'm sorry Bill."

Bill nodded "I'm at least glad you're honest" he said sadly "I'd rather know the truth then have false hope… but that's not important right now," he paused as he prepared to change the conversation, but he had to be very careful about what he said. Michelle was very agreeable on most topics, but talking about Tony was different. He had come to realize that she was very guarded when it came to her feelings for Tony and if you said anything negative about him, be it true or not, she'd attack, so Bill chose his words carefully and approached the topic slowly.

"You look very weak," he started, with some apprehension.

"I feel weak."

"This is not good for you Michelle," he said softly. "You've been honest with me and I think it's only fair I do the same for you," he began and she looked up. "To start, this not eating thing is incredibly unhealthy and you are beautiful, but you are way too skinny… you need to start eating more and between that and this lack of sleep…that's why you're sick, Dr. Mackey said you were almost never sick before the divorce, she said you were as healthy as can be, 30 pounds heavier, stronger than most men, 8 hours of sleep most nights and very rarely sick." He wanted to touch her, since she had looked away, but wasn't sure if she'd allow it. "This divorce is killing you Michelle," he said, but she didn't flinch… this clearly was not news to her. "We need to get you better… not because I want a healthy girlfriend or I'm hoping you'll come around and love me too…even though of course I'd love both of those things… we need to get you better because you are my friend and I know you are an amazing woman who doesn't deserve to live this way, ok?" he said.

She nodded.

"And if along the way you just want to be friends, I am ok with that, it's up to you."

She looked up and held out her hand for him to help her up.

He smiled, "That a girl," and he stood up, pulling her up with him.

Once she was up she fell into his arms. "Thank you." She was so glad he was willing to be her friend, that's what she needed… a friend who was not pushing her toward Tony, just a _friend_… she didn't want to tell him that… she didn't want to hurt his feelings anymore so she just let it be, right now they were somewhere between a couple and friends, and for now, that was fine.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Tony where are you?" Jen said through the phone.

"Tried a new bar downtown," he answered simply.

"You're drunk…really drunk so I'll come pick you up, I just got off work"

"You know which bar I'm at?"

"Yea I'll be there soon," she sighed.

"Hey! Look who it is!" a man bellowed from behind, Tony had the feeling the man was talking to him, but wasn't sure and didn't care so he didn't bother turning around. "Haha yea!" the guy called "It's prince charming!"

Tony felt a jump in his chest, he knew exactly who that was and now he was _sure_ the man was talking to him. Oh how he wanted to kill the man. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see an even fatter Jay with 3 guys standing by, watching with grins. With all the bars he had been going through he should have expected to see Jay, but had forgotten he existed. "If you know what's good for you, you'll get your hand off me and walk away right now," Tony warned.

Jay laughed and pushed Tony "What? She leave you too?" he laughed.

Tony clenched his fists tight and punched Jay so hard he landed in his friends' laps. He shook his hand and walked out, and fortunately for him, Jen had just pulled up.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Here we go, warm tea and some toast," he offered her as she sat in the couch "We'll start out with small foods."

"I'm really not hungry, but I'll try," she said in a voice that was hoarse from crying.

"So, let's talk about something fun for once…forget about work, forget about the past and don't worry about the future,…right now, just you and me relaxing," he smiled "What do you do for fun?"

Michelle let out a laugh.

Bill laughed too "Been that long?" he smiled "You like to paint? Ride your bike? Cook?"

"I don't cook," Michelle said and she was almost ready to make a joke, but she realized any joke about her cooking was a joke Tony had teased her with, so she fell silent.

Bill noticed her begin to smile then turn sad and he knew what had happened "Ok, next subject…" he said with a small smile. "The weather… what season do you like the best?"

"Summer for sure," she said.

"Yea? Why is that?"

"I like to swim and at my old house I used to have a pool and I love swimming at night when it's a warm night," she said and her eyes lit up and then he could tell she was thinking of times in her pool, times that undoubtedly involved Tony.

"Ok next subject" Bill said. "Cars," he tried "Like…what made you buy the car you drive now?"

"Next subject," Michelle said.

"Sports?" he said "What's your favorite baseball team?"

"Next subject," Michelle said.

"Wow, this is bad," he sighed. "You are _so_ wrapped up in him… no matter where you turn he's gonna be there, until you start making new memories… I mean, I think that might be it, you don't have anything new happening so all that old stuff keeps haunting you," Bill offered "You have to try and take a few steps back and untangle yourself, detach yourself and get some perspective so you can breathe."

Pulling _away_ from Tony so she could breathe? As far as she could remember the only time she could breathe was when she was near Tony… but she had to try something and what Bill was saying did make sense "Detach…" she said aloud as she thought "Okay"

_(Meanwhile)_

'What? She leave you too?' Jay's words echoed over and over in Tony's head. That man was the biggest jerk Tony had ever known, but maybe for once he was right. Not exactly _what _he said, but how he said it… as if to say 'What? She dropped you when it got tough too?' Tony was obviously biased, but he knew Michelle had every reason for kicking Jay's sorry butt to the curb… but it was different with him… he had literally traded the world for her… some people say it 'I'd give anything for you' 'I love you more than anything' 'You are the most important thing to me'… he had done it, and paid for it and he couldn't believe she hadn't had more patience…she had given up way too easily, it wasn't fair.

"What's wrong?" Jen asked as they drove.

"What?"

"You look really pissed off" she said.

"Stupid jerk at the bar" he lied and then added "I took care of it… don't ask" so she wouldn't ask questions.

She shook her head "Whatever"

_(A week later)_

"That was the funniest movie I've seen in a long time" Michelle smiled as they left the theater.

"I definitely didn't expect it to be _that_ funny, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time" Bill smiled holding her hand as they walked to the car.

"Same here" she thought aloud happily.

"I have this really nice place picked out for dinner I think you're gonna love it" he said as they drove "It's got a beautiful view"

"Sounds great!"

Fifteen minutes later they were seated at their table. The entire way in she had been lost in reciting her favorite lines from the movie. They sat down "Yea that was my favorite part" Bill laughed.

"I've been having such a great time tonight" she smiled at him "This has been so much fun"

"I'm having fun too" Bill said, things had been perfect lately, something had changed about Michelle and he wasn't sure what, but whatever it was she was no longer extremely sensitive, she could talk through hard topics without emotion and she always held her composure.

"What are you going to order?" Bill asked looking down at the menu, he figured she'd order a salad or a side dish since she still wasn't eating much… or sleeping much for that matter, but at least now when she was awake she didn't seem to be in pain.

"I was thinking this steak and potatoes?" she said pointing to the menu.

"Really?" Bill said in happy surprise "You're hungry?"

"I think I could find room for this" she laughed.

"Ok, perfect!" he grinned.

They ordered and continued chatting until Bill looked over "Oh yea! I almost forgot he view!" he pointed out the window across from their table "Isn't that such a beautiful lake?"

She turned and her smile died. She knew the lake. She also knew the large structure across the lake was a big fancy hotel… a fancy hotel with a gorgeous ballroom, she remembered the white dress she had been wearing the day she was in that ballroom… but more importantly she remembered the bench sitting at the edge of the lake behind the building

_"I've been thinking lately about how much I love you," he said._

She felt a jolt of pain in her chest. Dimples scattered across the lake as rain began to fall.

_"And I can feel it but for some reason I can't think of any word to describe it... nothing is this big, this strong, this perfect..."_

"Michelle, are you okay?" Bill said with concern grabbing her hand from across the table.

_"But the other day I was driving home and it was raining and I thought about all the little rain drops...God there's gotta be billions of them that fall in just a few seconds in Los Angeles alone, then there's the ones that already have fallen and then the ones that will fall... puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans... all full of little raindrops... that's a lot of raindrops..." he looked up at her "That's how much I love you... I love you as much as all the little raindrops put together"_

Her face was wet, this is all she knew, that and she felt like someone was suffocating her "I need to go home"

"Are you feeling sick?"

"Please…" she said "Take me home now"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Anyone want another drink?" Jen called to her two friends as she headed toward the fridge. Her friends Ben and Paige were sitting at the counter, Tony was off in the living room watching television.

"So uh Tony" Ben said turning trying to include him "What do you do?"

"Tony was a secret agent for the government" Jen said proudly.

Paige laughed "Secret agent"

"No, I'm serious… with a gun and everything, fighting bad guys" Jen smiled "Right Tony?"

Tony sat silently. "Can he hear us?" Ben asked.

Jen knew he could but instead said "Hah probably not, I'll go get him"

She went into the living room and very quietly said "What are you doing? Stop being so anti-social, come sit with us, you're being weird"

"And talk about what?" he said sarcastically.

"Tell them about CTU"

"No" he said with anger "I hate that place, _I_ don't wanna talk about it, I don't want _you_ to talk about it… I don't even wanna _think_ about it…" he emphasized each word

"I …hate…it"

(Meanwhile)

"Are you gonna be okay?" Bill asked gently as they pulled up to Michelle's apartment.

Michelle nodded "Yea… look I'm sorry about tonight"

"Don't be" he said quickly and she lingered for a minute "What happened?"

She shook her head in disappointment "I lost it"

"Was it him?" Bill asked gently hoping she wouldn't freak out.

"Always is"

"But you did really well the past week, no one's perfect… you've really been getting better" he said encouragingly "You even ordered a steak" he smiled.

"I didn't get a chance to eat it"

"Maybe next time" he smiled.

She got out and headed inside. Bill was right, she had a great night, maybe, with luck she could have some better nights to come. The detaching was really working, when she didn't let her heart make decisions, she didn't get hurt, it was just easier being numb and if that's what it took to survive, that's what she'd do…at least until she laid her head down and fell unconscious…and her heart finally got a chance to release in her dreams…her nightmares…she still didn't know what to do then

…except to not sleep at all


	120. Chapter 120 Signal Fire

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Snow Patrol_)

Hey:) I figured the best way to start 2012 is with Chapter 120 :D

~ Chapter 120 ~

'Just another day' Michelle told herself as she looked at the calendar. Her heart whimpered at the date… today was the day on which 4 years ago Tony told Michelle he loved her for the first time. 'Just another day' her brain insisted harshly and her heart fell silent because she had more important things to think about, today was her chair meeting and then she had at least 17 other things on her to-do list for work, it was 6AM, she hadn't slept more than 30 minutes, just another day.

_(Later that day)_

Tony looked up at his clock 1:30PM. Should he roll out of bed? He wanted a drink… or he could stay in bed for another two hours, not like he had anything to do…after all it was just another day.

Until the phone rang.

Tony was wearing a grey shirt, jeans, and a black jacket… and needed to shave, but considering Jack's predicament he didn't care, he pushed his blue jeep Cherokee faster as he sped toward Jack.

In two shots he had saved Jack's life, and while he was glad to have helped Jack he really wasn't up for the small talk "What could be wrong? I'm not in federal prison anymore thanks to you and President Palmer… Michelle left me… you know what, never mind, how about you tell me what this is all about" he said sarcastically to Jack as they drove.

In no time they were at Jen's house, Tony sighed…this was going to be fun.

"Ah! Tell your friend to play with his gun _outside_!" Jen yelled when Jack walked into the house. Tony was utterly embarrassed, Michelle handled these situations so much better than this, Jen was making a complete idiot of herself… Tony was sure Jack was thinking 'How did he fall so far from a woman like Michelle to this random piece of trash'

"We need to use Tony's computer" Jack explained.

"They don't have computers where you work?" Jen said sarcastically. Tony took out a beer, this was going to be a long day.

_(Meanwhile)_

The room was spinning. Michelle rubbed her eyes.

"You need to make that appointment with the sleep doctor" Bill said which startled Michelle.

She nodded "I do, you're right"

"Until then" he handed her a cup of coffee and smiled.

_(Meanwhile)_

"You didn't tell me that Michelle left him" Audrey whispered to Jack while Tony was out of earshot.

"Yea a few months after he got out of prison" Jack responded, she could see Jack didn't think it was right.

"I thought he went to prison because of her, he saved her life…she paid him back by leaving him?" Audrey questioned.

"Well that's the way Tony sees it too… it didn't happen exactly like that" Jack explained "when he got out of prison he was angry, he couldn't get a job and personally I don't think he wanted one, then he started drinking… he pushed her away"

"What is she doing now?"

"Deputy Director at Division"

_(Meanwhile)_

"That will be all thank you" Michelle finished her announcement and Bill was immediately at her side.

"So this afternoon we have to finish that update-"Bill began saying.

"Hold on" Michelle stopped him staring across the room at the line of cubicles "Excuse me" she said loud enough that her icy voice caused everyone within 5 feet to jump.

The two people whose lips had only been an inch apart jumped away from each other "We were just-"

"I know" she snapped "That behavior has no place in this office, our work here is very serious, and there is no room for emotional entanglements"

The man prickled up "Excuse _me_ but last time I checked, emotional _entanglements_ such as this are the only reason you are still breathing"

"And that statement is the _reason_ you are now unemployed" she snapped "You have 15 minutes to get the hell out of here" she spun away and headed to her office.

When she got into her office Bill was right on her heel "Are you alright?" he asked ready for the sadness and/or anger to come, but he was shocked when she turned and her face was expressionless.

"What do you mean?" she said in a completely level voice as if nothing had ever happened.

"No it's just… I thought you might be angry…. Or hurt…what he said was harsh" Bill explained.

She shook her head "If there's anything I've learned from you it's how to just disconnect and be completely objective, no emotion"

"Oh" Bill responded. Disconnected? Is that why she had seemed better lately? She was completely disconnecting from her emotions… great, he thought they were moving along and she was getting better… but this wasn't better, he wasn't helping her… he had created a robot.

_(Meanwhile)_

Tony sighed as Jack came and turned off the television and sat in front of him "Don't you think you've made me miss enough TV today Jack?" Jack and Tony had been like brothers at times so Tony knew what was coming… a lecture… and he sure as hell did not want to hear it.

"Why didn't you ever call me?"

"For what?" To chat? Yeah right… like he'd sign up for this… he didn't want Jack's help… it's not like Jack could help anyway.

"I've been there, I could help" Jack said softly. Tony looked down and thought sarcastically 'Been where? Dead wife? Thanks but I gave up everything to avoid that one… a lot of good it did me' he shook his head and looked up at Jack.

"I'm considered a traitor to this country, my wife left me, how you gonna help me? Huh Jack?"

"Yea" Jack smiled slightly, he knew better than to reason with Tony at this point, he was so far gone and so incredibly stubborn…Jack could only think of one person who could talk sense into him when he was this guarded… sadly she wasn't there.

"I owed you for getting me out of prison, but today I repaid that debt and to tell you the truth…All you do is remind me of a past I'm trying to forget"

A little while later Jack got a phone call and was rushing out "I'm gonna have to try and handle this myself… I'll be in touch" he said quickly.

"What are you gonna try to handle by yourself?" Tony asked knowing it wasn't good.

"Don't worry about it, its covered" he lied.

"Jack it'd be pretty stupid of me to let you die after I risked my life tryin to save you… do you need my help?"

"Yea"

"Alright let's go"

_(Later)_

'I can do this. I can disconnect. I've been doing it for weeks and nothing has been able to bother me. I'll be busy working. I'll force him out of my mind. No emotions. No problem…wait… in his state how is he working anyway? Running CTU? Tony couldn't run CTU, he couldn't even run a dishwasher… how was he gonna look? Would he be sad? Angry?' she imagined looking into his eyes and her heart flickered to life and it sent jitters through her 'No no NO!' No emotions, she should be thinking about the mission, her objective, he was just another guy there… she would be in charge, she would be in control just like she had been for weeks, with her heart silent and her brain doing the talking. The SUV rolled up to the CTU garage and even though there were memories scattered everywhere, Michelle felt nothing.

She had disconnected.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Ms. Driscoll's replacement has arrived"

"Tony I wanna thank you for filling in and I'd like you to stick around and assist Ms. Dessler" James Heller said with a smile.

"Who?" This had to be a joke.

"Michelle Dessler, do you know her?"

Know her? Better than anyone in the world, but that meant nothing now "I used to be married to her"

He turned and saw her. She looked like a ghost. She was pale, obviously didn't spend much time outside anymore… and her beautiful curls were gone, he hair was straight and uniform, her clothes were different too, she no longer wore the sleek, slightly sexy professional clothes she used to, now she was in a reserved suit. Her eyes scanned the bullpen passing his without hesitation, she wasn't smiling, but her could see a small triumph in her dark eyes.

He was asked to bring Michelle up to speed he had never been nervous speaking in front of her but right now he was. He felt so off-balance, the woman in front of him meant everything in the world to him once, but she didn't look like her, didn't sound like her and didn't act like her. She stared_ at_ him rather than _into_ him like she used to and this confused him, it was the weirdest thing talking to her without that underlying connection, even when they had been fighting they had always been saying more with their eyes than their mouths, so it threw him off to be missing that half of the communication.

When it was over she called his name and he was suddenly anxious to hear her next words "Tony" and while he didn't want to hurt anymore, he wanted her to say something to prove that it was Michelle, because he found himself almost believing it was a completely different woman. She was so different he needed proof.

"I need the access codes for CTU and Division" she said coolly. He wished she'd say something personal, maybe then he could at least communicate with her normally again, right now when he looked into her eyes he was totally lost.

He nodded and handed them to her, she began to walk away "What do you want me to do?" he asked, but as she handed him his assignment he saw what she was doing, handing him busy work to keep him out of the way so she wouldn't have to see him much… oh it was Michelle alright, with her walls 100 miles high.

"Last time I saw you, you couldn't stay sober long enough to keep a job" she said in a harsh hushed tone and there it was. He caught it, the sudden flicker of emotion in her eyes and they connected, she couldn't break it now if she tried.

Her words cut right through him, the flicker of pain he saw in her eyes stopped his heart, it made his past 2 years of pain seem like nothing… she was hurting _bad_, no wonder her walls were up so high "That was six months ago"

"This is what I need you to do, if you don't like it you can resign"

He was so astounded at the amount of pain he saw in her and how quickly it vanished that he nodded and let her go. He took a few steps back into the hall and leaned back against the wall. He had been so angry with her for leaving, so bitter that he had given everything and she had left, but he had never seen her like that… he must have been really drunk to have not seen it and now he couldn't believe it.

"Is there a problem with Agent Almeida?" Audrey asked Michelle in a tone of superiority.

Who was this woman to start with Michelle? Most people who knew Michelle, knew not to mess with her, especially on matters related to Tony, but Michelle was disconnected, so she was able to be civil "Not at all"

"It's just that Secretary Heller is very sensitive about interpersonal conflicts on the job" Audrey lectured. 'Who was she to be talking about this? Was it any of her business? No' Michelle thought as Audrey continued "Look I know your history, I know that you guys were married and that he sacrificed his career to save your life" Michelle was the last person who needed this history lesson so she kept busy with the papers in front of her to stay disconnected "But if this is gonna be a problem, I'll-"

"His being here will not affect my work, I won't let it" she said sharply, she had worked too hard at being disconnected to have some random woman with old news tear her up "Now if Secretary Heller wishes to speak to me about it, I will be more than glad to" she finished, giving Audrey a look that she knew meant 'back the hell off.'

With Sarah gone and Chloe back in play, all personal problems aside, there was no one he'd rather work with, she was sharp and knew what she was doing and despite all the pain she had to be in, not to mention how completely composed she seemed to be. When they both left out their personal lives it amazed him how they were still such a great team, despite the lengthy time since they had last worked together their brains still worked perfectly together, filling in each other's blanks and finishing each other's thoughts.

Bill glanced over and saw Tony and Michelle standing close together talking, he didn't like how comfortable they were getting, he knew this would wind up hurting Michelle and he wanted to keep some space between them to protect her, so he decided to find out what they were talking about "Did you secure Marwan yet?" Bill walked up to Tony and Michelle.

"No he must have slipped through the perimeter" Michelle said.

"How the hell could you let that happen" he accused her sharply. She was taken aback by his tone.

"It doesn't matter how it happened" Tony said defending Michelle as Michelle looked slightly surprised at Bill "What matters is that he's gone and we are doing everything we can to find him" Tony and Michelle both knew better than to practice regret, there was no point, when you had a setback you had to get right back up and keep going, no time to waste and besides that, Tony did not want _anyone _putting any extra pressure on Michelle, this day had to be hard enough on her.

Bill turned to Michelle "What exactly are you doing to find him?"

Michelle swallowed "We widened the perimeter, set up a search grid, state police and LAPD are conducting a sweep" she answered and they were interrupted.

_(A few minutes later)_

"Listen um" Bill said in a hushed tone putting his arm close to Michelle "I'm sorry if I snapped"

"It's ok we are all under a lot of pressure" She said, being near Bill always made her instinctually disconnect from her emotions, she had none for him so it was easy and she liked this about him, being near him was like stepping outside on an icy winter day. All the heat evaporated and everything was still… the emotion froze and wilted and all that was left was silence and stillness… her pain was numb.

"You holding up?"

"I'm fine" she smiled as all emotion evaded her and she could finally think straight again. He rubbed her shoulder but she didn't even notice, she was enjoying the feeling of emotionlessness.

Tony watched Bill and Michelle's seemingly intimate conversation and the way he touched her and knew there was something going on he had not known about. He needed to know more about Bill so he went to a reliable source, Chloe.

"How long has Buchanan been at Division?" he asked.

"Well it took them a while to fill Chappelle's position… 6 months"

'How convenient, right around the time she left' Tony thought then said "Where was he before that?"

"Seattle I think" she said slowly watching her screen.

"Seattle?" he could not believe it.

Chloe looked up at him "Yea that's where Michelle was posted while you were in _jail_ right?" she said connecting the dots.

"Yea…. Thanks"

He hated to mess things up while they finally had a good thing going, but he couldn't pretend it wasn't killing him "Michelle" he said wincing at the thought of the conversation they were about to have "When were you planning on telling me?"

"About what?" she said with no idea what he meant and for a moment he considered how much he was going to miss this absence of hostility from her.

"About you and Buchanan"

She visibly became defensive "Never" she looked around to make sure no one was listening "It's none of your business" she said trying to walk away. He knew her better, if she was ready to fight for her relationship with Bill she would be doing it, but the fact that she was trying to walk away meant she was afraid to finish the conversation, afraid she might lose it or say too much, this already told him that she didn't love him.

"Michelle" he said and she turned "Before you worked with him at Division you worked with him at Homeland Security restructuring right?"

"Yea" she said quickly knowing exactly where his mind was going and _hating_ that he didn't trust her more than that.

"We were still married then"

She could not _believe_ him! She had always been more than faithful to him their entire marriage and even now after so for him to accuse her of such a thing pissed her off to no end so in spite she said "Legally… yes"

"Did you sleep with him while we were married?" Michelle could never bring herself to sleep with anyone…married or not… EVER, so for him to so casually ask about it literally felt like he had just kicked her in the chest. She couldn't even speak.

"No" she said still in disbelief that they were even having this conversation "I didn't" 

"But you are now" he said, his words dripping with disgust.

She felt an aching in her chest and she felt like she was suffocating "Like I said, it's none of your business" She took a few seconds, her limbs tingled as anger coursed through her, just when she was beginning to forgive him…her chest was literally aching at the thought of what he had said. Forget walls, that had been a surprise aerial attack on her heart, disconnected or not…that hurt.

Anyone around them could see the tension between them at that point, the amount of anger hanging between them made it clear it wasn't just anger, there was something stronger beneath it. In crisis, they both knew how to drop it and work and they did. Their thoughts were seamless and their work was incredible, together they had everything under control.

He couldn't stand the tension between them anymore, he couldn't take the idea of her hating him anymore, especially not when she was so close to him "Michelle" he began "I was out of line a couple hours ago about you and Bill." She visibly softened at his words, truth was she had already forgiven him by now, but to hear him apologizing tugged at her heart because at this moment she could see that the old Tony was really breaking through. "It's your life and I've got no right to judge you" he said and she could tell this was hard for him.

"I appreciate that" she said sincerely.

"And whatever tension there is between us I wanna apologize for my part in it" he said "I'd like it if we could just let it go so we can do our jobs" she didn't know how to feel about that, what were they letting go of exactly? "Leave the past in the past" he finished.

Even though the past was full of pain she knew there was no way she'd ever be able to leave it behind and to be honest she would never want to, the past included their best days, the best days of her life and she wasn't ready to abandon that "That sounds good" she lied with a smile she knew he'd know was fake. The ice melted, but this time she didn't mind, she let it be… his company was warm so she let these few emotions in.

_(Later)_

"CTU" Michelle answered the phone.

"I'm calling for Tony Almeida" Jen said impatiently "Who's this?"

"This is Michelle Dessler, a colleague of his" she explained "Can I ask who's calling?" she asked politely.

Jen prickled up "The woman he _happens_ to be living with, is he there?"

Michelle's heart hit the floor "Yea hold on" she said looking down pulling herself together for the next part of this conversation "It's for you" she said quietly.

"Who is it?" he asked wondering why she had gotten so quiet.

"The woman you're living with?" she said searching his eyes.

He sighed and threw her an apologetic glance then took the phone "Jen"

"I been callin everyone we know, goin crazy lookin for you" she said in an annoyed tone "And I thought maybe Jack Bauer took you back there, do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

"Yea I'm sorry I shoulda called earlier but I've been very busy" he brushed her off.

"Oh? Really busy with Michelle Dessler?" she said with jealousy dripping from her words.

"I'm working Jen"

"For CTU?"

"On a provisional basis, yea"

"Wh- I thought you hated that place?"

"Things have changed a little"

"Yea I guess they have" she said hating the fact that the bitterness had left his voice, which scared her.

"Look Jen we can talk about this later, right now I gotta go alright?"

"Tony what's you ex-wife doin there?"

"Jen look I'm sorry, I gotta go" he said hanging up and dropping his head, he had to look like a complete ass, after giving her hell about Bill… "Michelle, umm" he said nervously and she waited for him to talk but kept herself busy to avoid losing composure "I'm sorry you had to find out like that"

"It's really none of my business" she said walking away wanting to escape the topic desperately.

"Yea it is" he said following her "I shoulda told you I was living with someone else"

"I don't wanna talk about this right now" she said hoping he'd sense that she was gonna lose it and let her go.

He did sense this, but it didn't matter, she needed to stop hiding from her emotions "Yea well I do" he said taking her arm and spinning her around, backing her up against a wall "Listen to me"

The air rushed out of her as her heart began to pound for the first time in her chest at how close he was to her, her mind hated that he was invading her space and walking right through the walls she had tried so hardly to maintain, but he heart couldn't help but love being close to him no matter what the circumstances.

"When you left…" he said softly in that voice that always ripped straight through her "Everything fell apart…. Jen just happened to be there for me"

"You don't have to make excuses for your relationship-" she said quickly trying to escape before she lost it.

He stopped her and took a step closer "I'm not making excuses… I'm just telling you how it is"

Her brain shuttered to a stop and her heart took control "Do you love her?" it's all she cared about.

"No" he said and she knew he was telling the truth, her heart swelled with relief but before she could say anything Edgar interrupted them and her brain flickered back to life, and he gently released her.

_(Later)_

"It is absolutely unacceptable that I was kept out of the loop on this!" Bill yelled at Tony

"That's the way Jack wanted it played" Tony responded calmly.

"You don't work for JACK!" Bill yelled louder "You work for me!" Tony watched him without flinching "On which frankly I wish I had been consulted in the first place" he snapped.

Tony could tell he was snapping about more than this secret operation, the way Michelle was finally letting Tony back in was clearly threatening Bill and that's what this was about. Tony looked at him "Meaning?" he asked to see if Bill would say what was really on his mind rather than play this power game.

"Meaning I thought it was a mistake to re-instate you and now I'm certain of it" he said.

Tony knew he wouldn't speak straight with him "I understand you saying you don't appreciate being left in the dark, but I think this is about something else" Tony could see how frantic Bill was getting as everyone could see Michelle loosening up to Tony.

"Well you're wrong about that too" he said defensively "AND YOU ARE _WAY_ OUT OF LINE!" he finished quickly walking away.

_(Later)_

"This situation with the consulate is dragging us down. We shouldn't be diverting resources away from finding that warhead" Tony said and it amazed her how those had been her exact thoughts.

"Well, hopefully this will just be a formality and we can get rid of him quickly" she answered "If we don't get information from Lee, Audrey's husband will have died for nothing"

"What is she still doing here?"

"Think she wants to stay busy so she doesn't have to think about it" Michelle said softly. Tony could hear in her voice that she was very familiar with this concept, avoiding emotion, he had been watching her do it all day.

"It's funny when I met Audrey this afternoon, seemed like she and Jack were totally together… few hours later everything has changed" he looks at her "Michelle" he began in a soft voice that made her want to cry "I hate being without you"

His sincerity brought her heart to the surface "I never wanted it to be this way"

The phone rang telling them Chang had arrived, and Tony cursed the man who was interrupting them right when he was finally alone with her and her walls were down.

_(Later)_

"Tactical is at Richard's house they're going through his things right now"

"What about Jack?" Tony asked.

"Jack and Curtis are on their way back right now"

"Someone has to tell Audrey that Jack is going to be interrogating her brother"

"Huh…Audrey's not gonna want to let Jack _near_ her brother"

"Can't be helped….I mean if Richard knows something about that missile"

"Funny, this morning Jack and Audrey were planning their future, now he's responsible for her husband's death and he may have to torture her brother"

"And yet every move he's made has been the right one" she said shaking her head. She knew this was about to get personal, she could feel it in his tone. She walked over and sat down on the couch.

"Not if he wanted to be with her" he said "Look Michelle," he sat down next to her" He took a second to find the right words and the courage to go with them "Everything that's happened here today, it's been hard going through it with you again"

He knew she was on the edge so he was being gentle, trying not to push her emotions more than necessary and she appreciated it "It's been hard for me too"

"And I look at what this job does to the people in our positions and I realize," he looked her in the eyes, there was no running now "I want us to be together again…but its gotta be away from all this"

The getting back together part wasn't a surprise, she had secretly waiting and hoping for it… but the leaving work caught her off guard "You want us to leave our jobs?" he nodded "oh, we spent the last 12 years of our lives doing this…where would we go? What would we do?"

"I don't care… look people start over every day, if it's important to them"

"You're asking me to leave the only thing I've ever done"

"Yes I am" he had to know that nothing else was more important.

_(Later)_

"We'll be monitoring everything on 3" Michelle said, telling him things he already knew to stall, she wanted to tell him, but she didn't have the courage.

He sensed this and went along, telling her things she already knew "Alright make sure LAPD's there when we land, we're gonna need transport to the site"

"They've already been called" she answered, which he had known.

"Ok" he said, walking away, he wasn't gonna turn and look into her eyes and put her on the spot, she could have as much time as she needed and if she wasn't ready just yet, that was ok.

"Tony wait" her heart called out and he could tell by her voice this was hard for her "I-I can't" 'breath Michelle' her brain ordered. She took a breath and concentrated on not crying. If it was this hard to watch him leave, she was sure she needed him back "I can't spend another day without you…" That's all he needed to hear "I'm ready to leave here, I'm ready to go with you" she said quickly in the second it took him to return to her, pulling her face into his hungrily, her lips were so soft and familiar he drove right in. She clung to him and even though there was no air between them she felt like for the first time in years she could breathe again, she kissed him with a passion so strong it startled them both, but they were too lost in each other to stop, he kissed the line from her lips, up her jaw to the spot on her neck, the way he always used to and Michelle went weak, Tony knew he had to stop now, she was getting really worked up. He slowed his kisses and kissed her one last time softly then pulled away without a word. "Tony" She called, he turned, her face was flushed and he smiled "Be careful" she called with her heart in total control.

He nodded and walked out smiling like he hadn't in years.

_(Later)_

"Roger that, all teams hold position"

"Tony this is Jack we are initiating the search…Tony do you copy?" She looked up at the sound of his name, that name meant so much and- "Castle why is Almeida not on com?" Her heart stopped "Tony do you copy? Tony come in!" She couldn't breathe again "All teams this is Bauer …Castle is down Almeida is missing, I repeat Almeida is missing and possibly a hostage, our communications have been compromised, move over to secondary frequency, CTU I need more tactical personnel now… Michelle did you copy that?" Her mind was blank, her heart speechless "Mi_chelle?_"

Her brain took control "You heard him people shift profiles we may have a hostage situation, move! Now!" she couldn't believe this, this wasn't a nightmare, this was real life and he could die if he wasn't already dead… her heart was pounded so loud she couldn't hear herself think.

_(A few minutes later)_

Bill hung up and watched as Michelle was pushing for more and more people over the phone, it was clear she was freaking out, he had never seen her this frantic, she wasn't crying or anything, but everyone could see the idea of Tony in danger was making her lose control. "I don't care we need every available agent there now" she said.

"But they're not cleared for fieldwork" the man said, she was tired of hearing reasons why people wouldn't help.

"I don't care bump up their clearance on provisional basis if you have to"

"Yes ma'am"

"Call me back with an exact number when you have it"

"Yes ma'am"

Bill looked at her and as she turned and asked "What did LAPD say?"

"They are keeping certain units in reserve-" he began.

She knew why and she didn't care "But their sending more patrolmen to help Jack right?"

"They are sending 9 now and they're gonna try and pull another 12 from-"

"9?" she interrupted with disappointment "That's not nearly enough! We'll have to reassign our people, send them over there now"

"I'm taking care of it Miche-" he said in a soothing tone, trying to calm her.

"When?" she demanded "We need people there now, this woman has to be captured"

"Michelle" Bill said sternly grabbing her arm "Everyone understands what's at stake here…..were gonna do our best to find this woman, but we have to remain calm, or everything will spiral out of control" he said in a cool tone staring straight into her eyes.

She paused and realized that she was losing it, she recongnized the all-to-familiar pain… 'disconnect' she reminded herself 'Emotions can wait…they're too messy' she took a breath "You're right I'm not being objective…I'll admit it, I'm worried about what this woman might do to Tony, but I will not lose sight of the big picture" she said, the words pouring straight from her brain, her heart heard them and winced.

"The big picture is that we have to apprehend this hostile, alive, nothing else matters" at his words her heart stopped, he was saying if Tony died, that it was acceptable, she couldn't even consider that idea… it was too much… so she disconnected.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Well we don't have much time" Mandy announced "They're close to finding us and that would…be very, very bad for both of us, so tell me Tony," she said "2 years ago you put Michelle Dessler's life ahead of national security, you let a suspect escape _and_ you committed treason… is _she_ gonna do the same for you?"

He hated the idea of her being put in that position, it had been the worst thing to ever happen to him, but at this point it was the only way to buy them time for him to escape, if she didn't think he was valuable she'd kill him… he remembered what she looked like as he left, her face flushed pink with passion _"I can't spend another day without you…"_ and he nodded reluctantly.

_(Later)_

"As additional teams arrive on site assign them sections of the grid we do not want people bumping into each other" she informed Edgar, it was easier to stay composed if she didn't get specific, if she imagined the situation being routine.

"If the subject is spotted what is the approach protocol?"

"We maximize for capture, there can be no lag time" she answered robitcally.

"Do you wanna re-evaluate the formation since she's got Tony hostage?" He asked. He knew the legend of Tony and Michelle, Chloe had told him all about it and he had seen it more than once today, so it confused him that she seemed to be acting like he didn't exist.

"We proceed as if there is no hostage, there is only one operational objective and that is to capture this woman, make sure that's the profile you send out to all the teams understand?"

He got what she was saying but it made absolutely no sense after what he had seen and heard today… she was the one freaking out when they announced he was missing and that was definitely Tony she was kissing before he left and it had looked serious "Yes" he said unsurely.

She recognized Edgar's confusion and instantly felt guilty… she must seem heartless… 'Disconnect' she reminded herself. Her phone interrupted her thoughts "Dessler" she answered.

"Why don't you get somewhere private where we can talk"

"Who is this?" Michelle had a bad feeling.

"I'm sending you the answer" She suddenly saw a picture of Tony flash up on her phone, he was gagged and his face was bloody, he looked defeated. "Now do you know who this is?" she asked and Michelle looked for a tracking device "...and don't bother trying to triangulate the call…its scrambled"

Michelle reminded herself to stay calm "Please…don't hurt him"

"He's ok for now…but he won't be if you don't do everything I say Michelle"

"I understand"

"I need your help getting out of here"

Help her escape? She couldn't help her escape! "What kind of help?"

"You're hesitating" Tony heard Many say, of course Michelle would hesitate, she what his choice had done, saw the damage it caused.

"I'm not I'm not…I just need to know what you want me to do"

"Your men are between me and my exit, I need to know what their search patterns are and how

many men there are"

"Ok ok I'll find out"

"You'll tell me right now"

"I have to go downstairs and talk to my tactical team-"

"Oh Michelle… You're stalling…how many men are there total?" Poor Michelle, she was probably scared to death, Tony hated her being put in this position, he knew how hard it was.

"Upwards of 30, not including LAPD and reinforcements are on the way"

"You will need to remove your men from the from the northeast driveway of the complex"

"I- I don't know if I can do that"

"You will redeploy your men by the time I call you back or Tony _dies_"

"When are you calling back?"

"Soon, get moving Michelle"

"Well she still loves you…" Mandy announced "Question is how much"

Oh, God… what was she gonna do? She couldn't chose Tony, she had to disconnect…she had to be objective… this was an impossible decision… she had never appreciated how terrifying this moment was… she had always thought Tony shouldn't have risked everything for her, she never understood how he could put her life before everyone in the worlds' but now… it all made sense, he had chosen her, in this moment of fear, nothing had mattered more to him than her… and now she understood… she had to save him, the idea of his funeral made her want to vomit. She quickly called Edgar and looked over the grid, then Bill walked in.

"Where are we on the search of the apartment complex?"

"Nothing so far" she said quickly trying to hide the anguish in her voice, Tony would have heard it, but Bill didn't.

"LAPD there yet?"

"They're on their way" At this moment she wished Bill could see through her like Tony could, she wanted him to know, but she didn't want to betray Tony by telling him.

"I'll be at comm."

She had never wanted Tony to choose her, she had wanted him to choose all the other people, but he couldn't help wanting to save her and now she was being selfish by saving Tony "I can't do this"

"Can't do what"

She almost wished she hadn't said it "I can't sacrifice the lives of all those people if this warhead goes off…she called me"

"Who? Who called you?"

"The hostile who has Tony"

"When? What did she say?"

"Couple minutes ago, she said to redeploy our men so she can get away…..or Tony dies" as she said the words her voice broke as tears came.

"Patch me through to Jack Bauer's comm….Jack you read me?" she heard Bill say.

"Yea I copy"

"We've got something, the suspect contacted Michelle and confirmed she's holding Tony hostage, she's trying to use him as leverage against Michelle to open up an escape route"

Poor Tony and Michelle couldn't seem to catch a break Jack thought as he said "Is Michelle there?" he remembered Tony running off.

"I'm here Jack" she said softly.

"Do we have any idea where she is?"

"She wants me to clear a path in the northeast driveway, she's going to call to confirm that I did it"

"When?"

"I don't know, could be any second"

"Listen Michelle, I want you to make her believe that you are still cooperating with her, I need you to draw her into the open, I promise you that we will do everything we can for Tony"

Michelle nodded "Kay"

"Stay ready for her call... Bill I'm gonna pull our unit out of the northeast corner and conceal positions outside the complex"

"Its possible she'll change her mind at the last minute and try another escape route"

"I know and we'll be ready for that but if she doesn't I want her to believe that Michelle is still complying, as soon as she is 50 feet outside of the complex and cant re-enter, that's when our teams will converge"

"Lemme know when you're men are ready to redeploy"

"Copy that"

Bill turned to Michelle "You alright?"

"Yea…" she lied and thought for a second "I was gonna do what she wanted"

"Michelle"

"I didn't call you right away…all I could think of at first was saving Tony's life" she began to explain.

"It's ok, it's done" he said and she looked up. 'Done?' suddenly fear hit her again.

A few minutes later she was down next to her phone waiting for the call, she kept touching the phone, she had never been so torn in her life… had she done the right thing? Would he live? If he didn't would she survive? It would be all her fault-

Ring

Michelle snapped up the phone "Have you redeployed all your men?"

"Yes I have" Michelle said quickly.

"Are you sure they followed your instructions?"

"I'm sure"

"Michelle, do you love Tony?" her heart ached in her chest… she wanted to cry, she wanted to say 'Yes, more than anything in the world, please, please don't hurt him, I love him so much' but she had to keep control 'Breathe' she reminded herself.

"Yes" she said in the best controlled voice she could muster "I love him"

"Good, cuz If I find out your trying to play me the very first thing I'm gonna do is blow his brains out and don't think there is anything you're gonna be able to do to stop me, cuz there's not, you understand?" She winced at the idea 'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry' she told herself.

"Ok, I understand"

"Good stay by the phone"

'Pull it together Michelle' she told herself. She turned to Edgar "Do you have multiple sourse on audio?"

"No just one telcall feed low res" he answered.

"No, I know the configuration Edgar, I need to know if we can multiplex, pull some background noise off we need to pinpoint the source"

"I was goin to do that"

"When? This is happening now! I shouldn't have to walk you through this…damnit….I will not let this thing fall apart because of technical incompetence!" Everyone watched Michelle, the most professional, authoritative person they knew unraveling, she was falling apart and everyone could see it, Chloe looked up and knew the last thing anyone should do is try and mess with her.

"We've got something, building 3 west entrance" they heard on the headset.

"Edgar, video feed"

Ring

She snatched the phone up this was killing her "Yes"

"Ok Michelle we're on our way, I've got a gun on tony, my fingers on the trigger, if I move it he's gonna die"

"I told you, I moved my men" she insisted, she didn't need any more visuals of Tony dying, she had already seen it too many times in her head.

"So far so good…"

"When she gets in the car and she can't stay on top of him that's our opportunity" Bill said.

"She's moving toward the black jag" Jack announced.

"All teams hold your position" Curtis said.

"Ok here's the deal, as soon as we're in the car and out of the area, I'm gonna call you and I'm gonna tell you where you can find Tony"

That sounded perfect "Ok"

"Ok all teams move in" Bill said.

"Not yell Bill, all teams hold position" Jack called

"I see your men Michelle" her blood ran cold "You lied to me you _bitch_! You are not gonna take me alive!"

"So, uh, what are we saying here?" he smirked "If we save L.A. from a nuclear bomb, then you and I can get together for dinner and a movie? Is that it?"… As long as the world didn't end they'd get together? That sounded good to her.

.

_He looked deep into her eyes "I want to be there to hold you when you cry… give you a blanket when you're cold… listen to your dreams and lead you out of the darkness and keep you safe from all the things that scare you."_

_._

"_What is it Michelle?" he said wondering what was so important that she couldn't say. He pulled her chin up and she locked eyes with him._

"_I uh, I think I'm falling in love with you" she said, but she wasn't smiling._

"_I know I am" he said and at that Michelle smiled one of the most beautiful smiles Tony had ever seen as he pulled her in for yet another passionate kiss._

_._

"I mean you realize how beautiful you are right?" he had said "just in case there is any doubt whatsoever in your mind I'm going to clear it up right now." He took a step toward her and cupped her face with his hands "Michelle you are the most angelic, stunning woman I have ever seen"

_._

"_I promise"_

"_You can promise that?" she asked slightly amused._

"_Watch Me," he said pulling over to the side of the road. When they had stopped her turned his body in the seat "Michelle Dessler, I herby promise to be with you this Christmas and for many Christmases to come" he stuck out his pinky._

_Michelle started to offer her pinky but pulled back with a smile. "How many we talkin?"_

"_As many as I have" he said putting his pinky even closer to hers._

"_Are we seriously gonna 'pinky swear' on something as important as this?" she said with a giggle._

"_You're right" he said "a kiss would be much more appropriate"_

_He leaned in and softly kissed her. After a few seconds she pulled back "Here's to many, many Christmases together" and she continued to kiss him._

_._

_He brought her up to the edge of the pond and glanced at back to the house and saw his mom peeking through the window. Tony took both of her hands "Michelle, it hasn't been long, but it seems like I've known you forever, I can't imagine life without you, without snuggling up to you every night before I go to sleep and waking up to your beautiful smile every morning…" He brought his left hand up to her cheek, ready to wipe the tears he could see were coming "I've fallen in love with you and I get this amazing feeling every time I'm with you and I want to have that feeling for the rest of my life" he smiled and got down on one knee slowly as tears came down her face "Michelle, will you marry me?"_

BOOM

"NOOOO!" she ran to the screen "NO!" and suddenly she was falling, her head was spinning.

Red. Yellow. White. Grey. Black. Black. Black. She describe it but she could not grasp what the colors meant.

"Bill they're gone, she blew herself up in the car, she took Tony with her, they're gone" the voice sounded a million miles away by the last word.

"_You might think I'm strong but I can't do this without you"_

_He stroked her face "You don't have to"_

_._

_In front of her was a huge open space with thick green grass and on the far end of the property the ocean could be seen splashing up on the small beach. "Wow this is a cool spot!" she said with a smile "We should have a picnic here sometime! Is that what we're here to do?"_

_Tony laughed "Sweetheart" he wrapped his arms around her from behind as they watched the waves "How about instead of having a picnic we build a home here"_

_Realization struck her like a bolt of lightning 'he said he bought something'._

"_Our home" he whispered in her ear._

_._

"_You… us" he smiled "I just can't believe I'm here with the most perfect woman … who I couldn't have ever even dreamed of …and we are planning our wedding and building a home together" he said lightly "It's amazing"_

_._

"_Ya know its funny" Tony said caressing Michelle's face "I always thought I'd have to chose" he explained, "Did I want a fun girl? A nice one? One who was shy? One who was always happy? Or a hard-core sexy chick?" he said "I always thought that at some point I'd have to make up my mind and decide what kind of girl I wanted…then I met you and realized… I could have it all"_

_._

_She looked at his big strong arms that had killed and tortured people that were now devoted to protecting her. They were the same arms that had saved her life that would carry her and hold her..."so long as you both shall live" the preachers words rang._

_"I do," he said firmly with a huge smile on his face. _

_._

_She gave Tony a warning look as he fed her the cake with a huge smile on his face. He smiled as she ate the cake and said "I love you" She smiled and picked up a piece for him smiling mischievously as everyone encouraged her to smash it in his face. She slowly slid the cake into his mouth and smiled and quietly dipped her finger in the icing of the remaining cake. _

_She smiled and lightly touched his nose leaving a little icing as she whispered to him "I love you too baby." Everyone applauded and he kissed her with a chuckle making sure the icing got on her nose too._

_._

_"You look gorgeous" Tony said softly sitting next to Michelle as they rode in the limo as he played with the beads on the top of her dress that lined her chest._

_"You like the dress?" she said watching him._

_He looked up into her eyes and put his hand on her face "I love it all" he smiled kissing her tenderly "I love every" he kissed her "little" he kissed her again "bit of you"_

_._

_"Just when I think it can't get any better, I turn around and you surprise me"_

_He smiled down at her "I get the same feeling when I wake up every morning and you're next to me"_

_._

"_Wouldn't you like to have a woman who can cook for you?"_

_He smiled and reached up to caress the side of her face "All I want in a woman is everything that you are" he said softly "If you want to learn to cook, ok… but do it for you… I don't want you to change for me, because I love you so much just the way you are… no other woman… I don't care how well she cooks…could ever replace you…ok?"_

_._

"_Baby you're alive" he said in a shaky voice "and nobody else got hurt because of what I did and that's more than I hoped for… I can live with that" he said "Even in prison"_

.

"_Her?" Tony stopped "Oh no! No, no, no" he chuckled "This" he caressed her stomach "Will be Tony Almeida Jr."_

"I can't even imagine what you must be feeling" she heard a soft voice next to her. She then realized she was sitting on a couch, she had no idea how she had gotten there and she didn't care "I know part of you is second guessing your decision, but you couldn't place Tony's life above the lives of potentially millions of people" he continued "You made exactly the decision Tony would have wanted you to make" He was right, this wasn't hard on Tony… Tony wasn't hurting at all… she was the one who had just had her heart ripped out of her chest…Tony was fine, she was sure he was in heaven… she was the one in hell "That's our job, that's why we signed on"

Job? She had forgotten about the job… an hour ago she was ready to get rid of the job "We decided we were gonna leave this, go somewhere and start again" but the job was all she had now.

"Michelle-"

"I wanna get back to work, we still have to find this missile" She had to do something before this pain killed her.

"No, I want you to go home" As of 5 minutes ago Michelle had been non-responsive, there was no way she could work.

"I'll be ok" she lied automatically.

"That's not advice, it's an order" great… now she had less than nothing.

She stepped out and the cold air chilled her and she prayed for it to bring with it numbness, but she had no such luck, no matter how long she stood there, the pain didn't subside, she could feel ice cold drops sliding down her body and was aware she was shaking from the cold, she decided to go to her car before someone saw her and tried to talk to her.

She sat down in her car and put the key into the ignition, but she couldn't bring herself to turn it… where was she going? Should she go tell his family? Should she go to her apartment? She could never go back to that house…

She watched the raindrops drip down her windshield

_"I've been thinking lately about how much I love you," he said._

_She looked down at him with a smile as he gazed off at the lake._

_"And I can feel it but for some reason I can't think of any word to describe it... nothing is this big, this strong, this perfect..." he paused and looked down caressing her hands which were in his "But the other day I was driving home and it was raining and I thought about all the little rain drops...God there's gotta be billions of them that fall in just a few seconds in Los Angeles alone, then there's the ones that already have fallen and then the ones that will fall... puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans... all full of little raindrops... that's a lot of raindrops..." he looked up at her "That's how much I love you... I love you as much as all the little raindrops put together" A tear ran down Michelle's face and he caught it with his thumb "This one too" he smiled and she laughed. "So the next time it rains or you go swimming... remember that" he smiled and she pulled him close to her and kissed him passionately._

_A few more tears rolled down her cheeks, as she pulled away "I don't even know what to say Tony"_

_He smiled and wiped away another tear "You don't have to say anything baby"_

She thought she had run out of tears, but she was now hysterically crying. Her phone began ringing… probably Gina, Bella, Danny, Dr. Mackey… whoever it was she couldn't do it… she looked down 'CTU'… what could they possibly want?

"Michelle its Bill, Tony's alive" again, she knew the words… she could say and spell them, but for the life of her she could not understand.

"What?"

"He wasn't in the car, he's ok…I'll let Tony explain it to you, hold on" her mind was blank.

"Michelle it's me" the most beautiful voice she had ever heard said.

"Tony?" she couldn't believe it "Oh my god…."

He could tell by her hoarse voice she had been crying, he hated that she was in so much pain "It's ok sweetheart" he said soothingly.

"Oh my god…" she repeated completely lost for words "What happened?"

"She made somebody else wear my clothes, she needed to keep me alive until she got out, Jack

figured it out, he was able to save me"

"I don't know what to say" The truth was she had so many things to say but she couldn't form words, her brain was spinning inside her head.

"Look, you don't have to say anything sweetheart" he said softly "I'm coming to CTU right now I'll see you in a few minutes" it was the best thing she had ever heard "Michelle, I love you"

"I love you Tony" she said with all her heart.

She pushed the end call button and suddenly sobs threatened to overtake her body, but she swallowed them, she was dizzy, she began to fix her make-up so she could go back inside.

_The perfect words never crossed my mind,  
Cause there was nothin' in there but you.  
I felt every ounce of me screaming out,  
But the sound was trapped deep in me.  
All I wanted just sped right past me,  
While I was rooted fast to the earth,  
I could be stuck here for a thousand years,  
Without your arms to drag me out._

She walked back into CTU, everyone watched her. She walked silently past the bullpen, all eyes were on her, but no one said a word… after seeing her be carried away when the explosion happened, they all knew she was way beyond her breaking point.

It seemed like it took forever for him to get back, she tried her best to keep busy and find out everything she could, to work things out in her head so she wouldn't have any doubts. Every time the door opened she looked up. And finally, it was him. Wearing different clothes and a little beat up, but _alive_, she wanted to run to him, she wanted to run right into his arms, she tried to control herself, because she knew many people were watching her, he got within 5 feet and she couldn't stop herself, she ran and so did he, she crashed into him wrapping her arms around him as tightly as possible, she needed more, she pulled back just enough to kiss him.

"When they told me you were dead-" she didn't have enough air to finish, but it didn't matter, he knew.

"I know I'm sorry"

She looked into his eyes and felt a familiar tugging in her heart taking over her whole body, cascading through every part of her, she was _so_ deeply in love with him and she was finally giving in, letting it take complete control of her "Oh I love you" she said breathlessly "I didn't realize how much until I thought I'd lost you" she said then something hit her like a brick and she pulled back, now that she was connected with him again, she couldn't run from it.

He saw it instantly "What is it?"

"When that woman called and she told me that-"

"Hey hey hey" he cupped her face and she was so vulnerable she melted at his words "You did what you had to do"

"But I didn't do what _you_ did" she insisted "You chose me and I chose-"

"Look, we did the best we could, alright?" he soothed her "Now it's over" She had never been so thankful to hear that. She grabbed him and kissed him deeply. When they needed air they settled for holding each other tightly, she closed her eyes and smiled, she was home.

_There you are standing right in front of me  
There you are standing right in front of me  
All this fear falls away to leave me naked,  
Hold me close, cause I need you to guide me to safety._

No, I won't wait forever

In the confusion and the aftermath,  
You are my signal fire.  
The only resolution and the only joy,  
Is the faint spark of forgiveness in your eyes.

_(Later)_

"You alright Sweetheart?" Tony asked Michelle as they drove back to CTU.

"I can't believe we are never going to see Jack again"

"I know" Tony said softly. She was quiet but he could feel her staring at him. He looked over at her. She had a small smile on her face "What?" he said with a smile of his own.

"I've missed you so much…" she said softly "And I am _so_ in love with you…even after all of this… and it's all just starting to hit me… I just" she paused trying not to get emotional "I don't know what I would have done without you"

"I know baby and I'm so sorry you had to go through that… I've put you through so much in the past two years… and I didn't even realize it until today" he said with his eyes on the road "I didn't know until I saw you this morning and I can't tell you how sorry I am that I didn't see it earlier… and then for you to have to go through the whole hostage thing… I've been there so I know it's the most terrifying thing that could happen and I hate that you had to go through that, trust me I would have done anything to stop it" he looked over at her, her eyes were closed… he smiled, she must be exhausted, he knew she probably hadn't been sleeping without him. As he pulled into the CTU parking garage they asked for ID. Tony realized he didn't have his, he looked down and picked up Michelle's purse.

"Sorry Tony, it's just… you know I gotta ask" the guard said.

"Totally fine" he said pulling her badge out. He showed it and pointed to Michelle.

The guard smiled "Good to see you two"

"Thanks" Tony smiled and pulled in, he looked over, he needed to touch her. He picked up her hand. He stopped when her hand was cold and clammy, her hands were always warm. He pulled into a spot and stroked her "Michelle?" he said softly, but he got nothing, he shook her "Michelle" he said firmly "Michelle!"


	121. Chapter 121 Better Than I Know Myself

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Adam Lambert_)

Sorry for the delay with this chapter, my computer was attacked by a pretty vicious virus and then I was in the hospital, but it's all good now so here we go…

Season 4 will not be the last season we cover, Faithfully Yours will continue through and beyond seasons 5-8, and don't worry both Tony and Michelle will make it through every season, this story will take a very interesting turn after season 5 and it is all planned to play out in such a way that they both survive and yet the story stays loyal to all the seasons of 24, so this is nowhere near the end jsyk:)

~ Chapter 121 ~

"Michelle!" he repeated frantically. He put his ear to her mouth and heard shallow breaths. He jumped out and ran to the other side he slid on hand under her legs and wrapped the other around her shoulders gently lifting her out of the car. He pulled her close and ran into the building. "Tony!" Bill called urgently when he looked up and saw them "What the hell?"

Tony ignored him sprinting off toward medical, taking special care to keep her head against his chest to keep it stable. God, he had always picked her up and carried her around when they were married, he was strong and she had always been easy to carry, but right now she felt light as a feather, he could tell from the apparent weight-loss she hadn't been eating as much, but now, carrying her he was very worried, she felt way _too_ light. "Get out of the way!" he yelled, then he glanced down, she looked so helpless. He looked up and curled his shoulders protectively around them as he burst through the door of CTU medical "Help her NOW! She is your priority!"

"Ms. Dessler?" the nurse asked.

"You don't have that kind of authority!" a new unfamiliar doctor retorted.

One of the other doctors who recognized Tony said "I'll get Dr. Mackey on the phone"

"She IS your number one priority!" Bill growled stepping in watching the care with which Tony lowered Michelle onto the bed.

"Tony!" the familiar doctor called "Cadence Mackey is on her way"

"Why are they calling Dr. Mackey?" Bill asked.

"She knows us better than anyone, all of our records say to call her… people who have worked here awhile know the drill" he said stroking Michelle's face. He knelt down next to her so their faces were only a few inches apart "Come on baby, we made it… everything is gonna be okay, just hang in there"

"Get her a gown" someone said.

"No" Tony said "She hates those, give her CTU sweats, they're loose enough they won't get in the way"

"Got them" the nurse called.

They stared at Bill and Tony "You want us to undress her now?"

Tony looked and Bill, waiting for him to leave, but Bill didn't feel comfortable letting Tony stay… Tony could tell Bill wanted him to leave "Can I talk to you outside Tony?"

Tony knew he was just trying to get him out of the room, but he allowed it "Yea"

As soon as they got into the hall Tony said "You know we've been married for years… it's nothing I haven't seen and I really don't like leaving her alone"

"You _were_ married for years and by the way that was _years_ ago" Bill snarled.

"Barely" Tony snapped this wasn't his ticket to seeing Michelle naked, he had just wanted to be there to hold her hand, he wouldn't have even looked, he would have respected her just like he had all the way until their wedding night.

"Yea well you lost the privilege to see her undressed when you signed the divorce papers" Bill concluded.

"So? What? You think _you_ should be in there?" Tony asked suddenly sick at the idea of another man with Michelle so intimately, at least he knew at this point that Michelle was planning to be with him and no one else, and he would do everything to protect her forever "You think you've got privileges? Because I assure you, you don't"

Bill knew he had no privileges, he had never seen her, but Tony had no right to be in the room with her "What makes you so sure?"

It was simple so his words came right from his heart… no anger, no frustration "She loves me"

They walked further down the hall so they wouldn't be heard down in medical "Really? Does she?" Bill said sarcastically.

"She does" Tony insisted confidently "She told me, right before she passed out"

"Right" Bill said "So she's hurt, scared, exhausted, vulnerable, confused and delirious and in that compromised state she says-"

"Hurt? Yes… Scared? Not with me… Exhausted? Yea I gotta thank you for taking _such_ good care of her-"

"Don't you DARE put this on me!" Bill pointed at him "YOU did this to her! She's hurt! YOU hurt her! She's scared, vulnerable and confused because you've your hooks _so_ deep in her she can't breathe… and the exhaustion? NIGHTMARES, guess who is the star of every one!"

Tony charged at him grabbing his shoulders "You have NO IDEA what you are talking about!"

"Michelle deserves BETTER" Bill glared at him, not even attempting to struggle, Tony had him beat and he knew better.

Tony stopped. The voice that had been haunting him since jail 'She deserves better' was back….and it sent chills through him. He let go of Bill and took a step back.

"I'M the one who's had to stand by and watch her in pain… I stood by her, even when everyone hated me, even when she didn't really want me, I was there and I NEVER hurt her" Bill said and paused fixing his suit "I know she loves you" he said more calmly glancing back toward the door "It's her weakness… poor girl" he said softly turning to walk back toward her room.

Tony heard him tap on the door and politely ask if it was ok that he come in, then he heard the door close behind Bill. Tony walked up the stairs but as he was heading for the door he heard a familiar voice and looked up.

"Tony?" Cadie rushed over and hugged him "Oh my God! It's so great to see you!" she looked up at him "Why are you crying? Is she ok? I thought she just collapsed?"

"Um… no… I mean yea… she collapsed, but it's just… never mind I should go" he said walking toward the exit.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she said confused "Aren't you here for Michelle?"

"I was" Tony nodded "But she doesn't need me"

She caught his arm "_What_ are you talking about?"

"She's better off without me"

"Oh yea?" Cadie started in disbelief "Aren't you curious why I'm not running in there right now? Why I'm not surprised?"

Tony shrugged, it was odd that Cadence hadn't run right in there… she was usually very territorial when it came to their healthcare, wouldn't let other doctors lay a hand on them unless it was life or death until she got there. "I don't know, maybe it just shocked you that I'm sober" he said sadly.

"It's more than your sobriety… your problem wasn't that you were an alcoholic… your problem was avoiding your pain and I don't need a breathalyzer to see that you're back" She paused "The reason I'm not running in there is because I know exactly what's wrong with her already…I saw this coming a mile away and I know _exactly_ why she collapsed and what she needs to get better" she said looking Tony in the eyes "Thing is… what she needs is not in there" she paused and put her hand on Tony's shoulder "It's right here"

_(Meanwhile)_

Bill was sitting next to Michelle holding her hand.

"She should be coming back any second, but she's gonna be exhausted and need to go back to sleep"

"Are you going to give her something to help her sleep?"

"No, she would get sick, but she shouldn't have any trouble sleeping"

Bill knew Michelle always had trouble sleeping and that she'd have even more trouble since what happened. She began to move, her head moved to the side and her eyes squeezed closed tighter than before, then she lazily opened them, at first she didn't seem to be looking at anything, then she blinked a few more times and her eyes began to focus. Suddenly they started darting across the room….searching. "I'm right here" Bill said soothingly.

She began panting "No… no no no Tony" she began crying "No Tony!" she began shaking "TONY!" she cried "No tony no"

"Michelle it's ok, everything's ok"

She continued crying as if he had said nothing "Tony! Tony! Oh God _Tony_" she gasped.

"Michelle" Bill called as he held her down "Everything is ok, just calm down"

"I didn't mean it Tony! I choose you!" she said starting to sit up, fighting to get out of the bed "I choose you, I'd give anything…. Please, please I'm sorry I left, I'm sorry I told him… I choose you, I choose you" she continued to scream through sobs.

"Can't you sedate her?" Bill yelled to the doctors.

"She doesn't have any food in her system, we are feeding her intravenously but we can't be pumping her with medication just yet" he called back "Where'd he go?"

"He left" Bill said, glad Michelle wasn't even paying attention.

"Get him in here now, she obviously wants him, it's the only thing that's gonna calm her down" the doctor ordered.

_(Meanwhile)_

"She hasn't even been eating… she misses you and I can see its taking a toll on you too" Cadie lectured.

Tony stopped her "You hear that?" he broke into a run back down the stairs, her crying could wake him up from halfway around the world and he was sure he could hear her. He blew right past Bill who was walking toward him, he appeared in the doorway and Michelle looked up and instantly fell silent as relief washed over her. Her frantic screams turned to quiet pants as she reached for him. He closed the gap between them, wrapping her in his embrace. He heard Bill and Cadie enter from behind.

"You're" she panted "here"

"Shhh" he said kissing her head "Of course I am Sweetheart" the relief in her voice brought him to tears.

"I was" she panted "so scared… y-you weren't here"

"I know, I'm sorry baby" he kissed her forehead as he laid her down. She was clutching his shirt so tight that he had to go down with her.

"S-stay" she insisted tugging him closer.

"I'm right here" he said softly "Don't worry, all you need to do right now is rest"

She shook her head "I don't-" she gasped "If I close my eyes" she panted "When I open them-"

He knew exactly where she was going "I am not going anywhere, I promise I'll be right here when you wake up" he said softly stroking her hair "But right now you need to breathe with me okay?"

She nodded and he slipped his shoes off and laid down next to her, she curled into his chest and tucked her head into his neck, he breathed slowly and she followed along. After about a minute they were in sync and she was fast asleep.

Tony took a moment with his eyes closed to soak the moment in, her finally being back in his arms, then he looked up and Cadie was grinning "See" she said "I told you" she pointed "She told me it's been taking her 3 hours to fall asleep lately, and you just did it in under a minute"

"Shh" Bill scolded.

"She's a deep sleeper" they both said.

"Trust me, you could bring a lawnmower through here and she wouldn't budge" Tony smiled looking down at his baby, all the wetness from her tears and the heat from her crying had brought some of her curls back. He tucked one behind her ear and kissed her pink cheek. Bill watched disapprovingly and Tony looked up "Look, I know none of this makes any sense… have you ever been in love Bill?" he asked.

Bill's stare narrowed and he turned to the other doctor "Please keep me up to date on her condition" and walked out.

"It's so nice to see you back together" Cadence smiled once Bill was gone "I guess I can go now, she's got everything she needs"

"Thank you so much Cadie" Tony said softly.

"Call me okay?" she said picking up her purse.

Tony nodded "Of course" he promised and pulled Michelle closer. He ran his hand down her arm and took her hand, while his other cradled her head. Tony squeezed her tight against him, he couldn't believe it was really her body pressed against his, her warmth seeping into his skin, warming him to the core. Would she come to her senses? Realize she could do better? He didn't want to think about it, instead he buried his face in her hair, which smelled different, but then he caught the scent of her skin, and he was home, he was asleep in no time.

"Tony" he heard her say urgently. He felt her pushing his chest, trying to free herself "Tony!" she pushed harder.

It was then he realized his hands had instinctually wandered under her clothes and rested on her bare hips. He instantly released her and she squirmed out of the bed. When she got to her feet she took two quick steps away from the bed then began to sway, the door opened and Bill stepped in and grabbed her shoulder to steady her "Whoah, what are you doing out of bed?" he said softly.

"Michelle I'm sorry" Tony apologized.

"Bill we need to call Sarah!" she began as she quickly as he held onto her shoulders so she wouldn't topple over.

"I took care of it, he's fine" he said quickly "You should be resting" he said helping her back toward the bed but then stopped and looked up at Tony who was still in the bed, but was seated now "Sorry for what?" Bill asked.

Tony looked down "mind your business" He had felt his heart falling back into place when he held her and now with how she had just pushed out of his grip he was sure she had felt uncomfortable and now he had messed things up again, he had never meant it, he wasn't used to being careful how he touched her.

Michelle sat back down on the bed, she looked up at Tony, her eyes confused.

"I just…" he needed to talk to her, but couldn't with Bill listening, so he settled for "Are you ok?" She didn't seem angry at all, the worry in her eyes was subsiding and it was only leaving behind softness. He knew she loved him, but there was still so much hurt between them and he wished he knew where her head was at, how much space she wanted after all it had been just yesterday when she hated him and it was true she had been delirious and confused, but it didn't change what he had seen in her eyes, they never lied.

She was silent for a second, obviously being careful with her words "I haven't slept like that in…"

"2 years" he said softly looking down.

"You are looking much better today Ms. Dessler" the doctor announced as he walked in.

"Where's Dr. Mackey?" Michelle asked.

"On her way, I called her right after Bill so any minute now"

Michelle nodded and it was quiet. She smiled timidly and looked up at Tony. In a low voice she said "I noticed they didn't put me in a gown"

Tony gave a small smile "I know how much you hate them"

"What is this?" Cadence called with a smile as she breezed through the door "Smiling?" she joked "This isn't my patient"

Michelle looked up and tried to suppress her smile, but failed.

"Pink cheeks? And where are the dark circles that are supposed to be under your eyes?" Cadie smile taking out her stethoscope.

"Where's my patient?"

"On her way home I hope" Michelle answered.

"Hmm, that depends… do you plan on being alone?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it" Tony mumbled taking her hand, his eyes were struck with fear "Your bleeding!" he said.

Cadie stood over them and looked, then she was relieved "Your IV just got ripped out" she said grabbing a cotton ball "Now how did that happen?" she smiled mischeviously.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Must have been when I got out of bed… I was freaking out a little… just worried about Garren"

"Yea Tony kind of had her in a chokehold" Bill muttered.

Cadie nodded "Ok well no more freaking out for a few days… nothing strenuous"

"So can I go home?"

"Yes, I'll come by your apartment in a few days"

"Michelle can I have a word with you please?" Bill said quickly.

She looked up and stared at him for a second before nodding. She turned to Tony and he nodded, sliding off the bed and following Cadence into the hall.

When the door closed Bill stared intently at Michelle "You should let me take you home"

"It's ok Bill, Tony can drive me"

"Yea? Are you gonna stop by his girlfriend's house on the way home?" he said spitefully.

"Bill-" she warned.

"Michelle this is absurd!"

"Don't-" she demanded.

"Look its your choice, you're a grown woman and I won't tell you what to do, but think about this Michelle" he said his tone beginning to soften "Your heart was thrown into sudden upheaval and all these things happened then you collapsed…" he slowed and stepped closer to "You know how much I care about you already so just listen when I tell you that you should take some time to process all this, consider everything… decide if your heart is ready for this" he looked down then back up "Just please don't jump into anything, I never wanna see you hurt the way you were, ever again"

Michelle nodded "I know, I know…this all seems so sudden, but it's not like I'm just about to jump in bed with him and get re-mar-"

Bill's frustration flared "You're _right_... you're not jumping into _his_ bed…" he pointed to the bed she was sitting on "he's jumping into yours and your just allowing it!"

"You know it's not like that!" Michelle snapped.

"Oh really? Then what is it like Michelle?"

"Excuse me" Cadie said in a loud authoritative voice and the room fell silent "I can't help but hear you upsetting my patient, who right now is supposed to be under no stress"

Bill took a deep breath to calm himself "Hurt today by me or destroyed later by him… I guess it's her choice… I'll leave" he said turning and rushing out the other door.

Michelle looked down at her hands then her eyes shot up to Cadence "Where is he?"

Cadence smiled, she knew exactly who Michelle wanted. She stepped to the side to reveal Tony standing in the doorway.

Tony had a defeated look on his face, Michelle didn't want him to hurt anymore, she could tell _her_ Tony was back and she was more than ready to go back to the way things used to be. She _needed_ things to go back to the way they used to be… because this was killing her. She needed to make him feel better, she needed to connect with him again… there was still so much between them that needed to be worked out, but in order for that to happen they had to get out of here "Can we go home?" she asked softly.

A smile tugged at his lips "Yea, let's go baby" he had tried not to smile but the sound of those words made him feel so good, _they_ were going _home_.

Although he couldn't ignore the fact that Bill was right. Michelle had given Tony her heart… it had been his job to protect it… and instead he hurt her…. In ways no one else ever could, in the worst ways… he didn't deserve that power anymore, he didn't deserve another chance and maybe she hadn't realized this yet… he hated the idea of taking advantage of her vulnerability. As they walked down the hall and she slipped her hand into his he made a promise to himself that he would protect her from her vulnerability… he wasn't going to allow her to make any decisions about them until she was back on her feet and the shock had worn off. He had been harsh to her, yelled at her and lied to her… but he would _never_ take advantage of her.

"Do you want to pick up some food on the way home?" she asked lightly, resting her head on his shoulder as they stood in the elevator.

"Yea, sure" he said.

There was no excitement in his voice and she wondered why, she knew she was excited that this nightmare was over…why wasn't he? "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yea, I'm okay… how is your head?"

"Fine… how did you know I have a headache?"

"The way you always take extra-long blinks when you have a headache… like you are hiding from the light"

She smiled that he had remembered such small details and followed him out of the elevator. As they attempted to pass the desk someone stopped them "You two still need to debrief" he said sternly.

"Not now" Tony said stepping in front of Michelle and lowering his voice which had become confrontational "You can send someone over to her apartment later to do it, but not right now"

The man nodded and let them go.

_(Later)_

As they drove Michelle watched Tony, he didn't seem happy or excited and he was silent as if thinking very hard. What was he thinking about? Was he wondering whether or not he did the right thing by asking her to get back together? Was he thinking about the fact that she didn't choose him… maybe he was mad… he had every right to be. He had literally given everything for her and she hadn't done the same. Maybe he was changing his mind.

"Are you having doubts?" Michelle said quietly, looking away as soon as she said it "About us?" she looked back up at him.

_Cold as ice_

_And more bitter than a December_

_Winter night_

_That's how I treated you_

_And I know that I_

_I sometimes tend to lose my temper_

_And I cross the line_

_Yeah that's the truth_

_I know it gets hard sometimes_

_But I could never_

_Leave your side_

_No matter what I say_

_All along_

_I tried to pretend it didn't matter_

_If I was alone_

_But deep down I know_

_If you were gone_

_For even a day I wouldn't know which way to turn_

_Cause I'm lost without you_

_I know it gets hard sometimes_

_But I could never_

_Leave your side_

_No matter what I say_

_I get kind of dark_

_Let it go too far_

_I can be obnoxious at times_

_But try and see my heart_

_Cause I need you now_

_So don't let me down_

_You're the only thing in this world_

_I would die without_

_Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,_

_But I really need you near me to_

_Keep my mind off the edge_

_If I wanted to leave I would have left by now_

_But you're the only one that knows me_

_Better than I know myself_

His eyes shot over to hers in disbelief "Doubts that I love you? _Never._ Doubts that I deserve you… yea"

"You don't" she said simply "Bill is right… after what you've done you don't" she said and he sat in silent shock "But I don't deserve you either" she said, her voice choked with emotion, "I lied about the baby, I left you and after what I did yesterday I could never deserve your love again"

"Michelle I'm _always_ gonna love you" he said squeezing her hand.

She nodded and smiled "And I'm always gonna love _you…_ and that's the part Bill _doesn't_ understand"

"Bill is right though… you shouldn't make any final decisions right now"

"Are you kidding me?" she said, offended "It's not like I'm gonna change my mind… I have never changed my mind _once_ about you… one thing has _always_ been true, ever since we started dating, through our marriage, our divorce and everything… it's that I want to be with you" she said "If these past 2 years have taught me anything it's that I _can't_ and would _never want to_ live without you" she looked down at her free hand "I know we have a lot to talk about, but tonight I just need to recuperate, I need to breathe and I can't do that without you"

"Well I'm right here" he smiled "And I'm not going anywhere"


	122. Chapter 122 Its All Coming Back to Me

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Celin Dion_)

~ Chapter 122 ~

"Right there," Michelle pointed to an empty parking space and Tony pulled in "I'm on the fourth floor," she said getting out of the car.

He looked up; it was strange for him not to know where she lived.

"Hey," she said softly.

He looked down at her and she held her hand out. He took it and followed her into the building. He watched as she unlocked the door. When she pushed it open he heard a rustling and he saw Garren hobbling down the hall. Garren came to a halt when he saw Tony. He lowered his head and growled.

"Stop it Gar!" Michelle said taking Garren's head and petting him "Be nice"

Garren wedged himself between Tony and Michelle and shot Tony a warning scowl.

"He remembers" Tony sighed.

"The meds make him cranky and he's very protective of me" she said "He wouldn't even let Bill sit too close" she laughed rubbing Garren's head.

Tony smiled "He's smart" he said as his smile faded.

Michelle looked up at him "He's a dog, Tony" she said "He'll come around"

Tony offered his hand to Garren. The dog looked at it and walked away.

"He will come around" she insisted "You wanna take the food into the living room and I'll grab some plates?"

"Yea" he said heading into the living room, he would have never guessed that Michelle lived here, he knew her decorating style, she had re-decorated their house hundreds of times and this house was way too cold and plain to be where Michelle lived.

Michelle closed the door to her bedroom "Go lay down buddy, its ok" she turned and headed toward him "Here we go" she said laying them out on the table "Did you want-"

She was cut off by his ringing phone. They looked at each other knowing who was calling. "I'm sorry" he said.

She nodded and looked down at the food. Then she stood "I'll give you a minute alone-"

"No" he grabbed her arm "You can stay" he said pulling her back down "No secrets"

She nodded and he flipped his phone open "Jen" he answered.

"Tony are you ever coming home?" she asked, she sounded exhausted.

"Yea… but… not to stay" he said softly.

Michelle could hear a mixture of crying and yelling but she was unable to discern any words.

"Look, I owe you an explanation, I know that and I'm so sorry it had to end like this" he said rubbing his forehead "Yes, it does… Jen don't be like that…Jen!" he snapped the phone closed shaking it in his fist then covering his face in frustration.

"I'm sorry" Michelle said softly.

Tony looked up at her and his angry eyes softened "Come here" he said pulling her into his lap, wrapping her tightly in his arms, she turned her body and allowed him to lay his head on her chest as she rubbed his head. Being this close to her was starting to drive him crazy he looked up and she pulled back enough to look down at him "I should have never left" she admitted quietly.

He pulled her face down and kissed her hungrily, the passion exploding between them as she pushed him down onto his back. He ran his hands down her sides as she turned her hips and wrapped her legs around him and his kisses traveled down her neck causing her to gasp, his hands instinctually traveled down to her waist, but he caught them and redirected them to rolling the two of them so her weight was off him and he could slide out from under her. He immediately sat up and squeezed his eyes closed "God… I want you so bad" he covered his face with his hands.

Michelle tugged one of his hands out of the way and pulled his face back down to hers, kissing him deeply, letting him know he could have her.

_There were nights when the wind was so cold_

_That my body froze in bed_

_If I just listened to it_

_Right outside the window_

_There were days when the sun was so cruel_

_That all the tears turned to dust_

_And I just knew my eyes were_

_Drying up forever_

_I finished crying in the instant that you left_

_And I can't remember where or when or how_

_And I banished every memory you and I had ever made_

_But when you touch me like this_

_And you hold me like that_

_I just have to admit_

_That it's all coming back to me_

_When I touch you like this_

_And I hold you like that_

_It's so hard to believe but_

_It's all coming back to me_

_If I kiss you like this_

_And if you whisper like that_

_It was lost long ago_

_But it's all coming back to me_

_If you want me like this_

_And if you need me like that_

_It was dead long ago_

_But it's all coming back to me_

_It's so hard to resist_

_And it's all coming back to me_

_I can barely recall_

_But it's all coming back to me now_

_But it's all coming back_

_There were those empty threats and hollow lies_

_And whenever you tried to hurt me_

_I just hurt you even worse_

_And so much deeper_

_There were hours that just went on for days_

_When alone at last we'd count up all the chances_

_That were lost to us forever_

_But you were history with the slamming of the door_

_And I made myself so strong again somehow_

_And I never wasted any of my time on you since then_

_But if I touch you like this_

_And if you kiss me like that_

_It was so long ago_

_But it's all coming back to me_

_If you touch me like this_

_And if I kiss you like that_

_It was gone with the wind_

_But it's all coming back to me_

_There were moments of gold_

_And there were flashes of light_

_There were things we'd never do again_

_But then they'd always seemed right_

_There were nights of endless pleasure_

_It was more than all your laws allow_

_Baby, Baby, Baby_

_If you forgive me all this_

_If I forgive you all that_

_We forgive and forget_

_And it's all coming back to me_

_When you see me like this_

_And when I see you like that_

_We see just what we want to see_

_All coming back to me_

_The flesh and the fantasies_

_All coming back to me_

_I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me now_

He got the message but pulled back "Michelle" he breathed, it sounded like he was in pain "We can't do this… I can't do this to you"

She sighed and closed her eyes for a second "I need this Tony, I need you" she looked up at him "It's not gonna change anything"

"It will change _everything_, look…whether we like it or not… I have a girlfriend, you have a boyfriend… we are a mess…you know I'm _always_ here for you, no matter what, but Michelle" he looked into her eyes "I want to do this _right_" he began "Look," he lowered his face to hers "I love you more than anything in the world and I want you so bad right now it's _killing_ me… but there are so many broken pieces right now and when we put this thing…us… back together… I want it to be _forever_, so we have to do it right… I don't want anything left hanging between us when we do this" he looked down and fixed her shirt "I want it to be perfect"

"Well I can't take this space between us anymore so let's stop talking around this" she said sitting up.

"You're not supposed to be under any stress Sweetheart and this isn't gonna be an easy conversation" he took her hands in his "How about this" he tried "Today we have our Chinese food, call for the debrief, watch a movie and try not to rip each other's clothes off" she blushed and roll her eyes "And just keep it simple because when it comes to things that involve 'us', we both tend to get pretty worked up and your still not 100%"

"I'm fine" she insisted.

"Baby you are swaying back and forth as you sit here… you are _not_ fine"

"I just want this to be over" she sighed.

"Baby we need a day off from all this craziness…" he pulled her into his arms "And right now I couldn't ask for more than to have you in my arms, I've dreamt of this for the past two years" he kissed her head "Don't worry we are gonna be together no matter what, we have forever"

_(Later)_

Knock-knock

Tony pulled himself up off the couch and sauntered over to the front door, he pulled it open "Bill? What's going on?"

"You guys never did your debriefs" he said authoritatively.

"Yea well Michelle wasn't really up to it, I told them to come later"

"And here I am" he smiled politely.

"You're gonna run our debrief?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, just doesn't seem very objective" he said shrugging and letting Bill in.

"It will be completely objective I assure you" he said walking into the living room, looking around, obviously searching for Michelle.

"She's in the shower" Tony answered his unspoken question and dropped onto the couch.

Bill nodded and sat in a chair.

"Do you wanna do mine now?" he asked Bill.

Bill remembered that the beginning of his debrief would be about his time with Jack at his girlfriend's house, Bill wanted Michelle to hear these details to remind her where Tony had been just days ago.

"Tony!" Michelle called from the bathroom.

Tony pulled himself up and walked off. Bill could still hear the shower so where Tony was going angered him. The water stopped and it was silent, he heard Michelle speak, but due to her low tone he could not make out what she was saying. He heard Tony laugh and a moment later he came back down the hall "Hope I'm not interfering with anything" he said, silently glad that his presence prevented them from doing anything.

Tony knew exactly where Bill's thoughts were "You're not interfering with anything that could've easily happened hours ago" he paused spitefully as he could see Bill's blood pressure rising "relax she just needed a towel" he replied with a small smile.

Bill's anger flared, but then Michelle breezed through the room to the kitchen wrapped in only a towel and he could barely breathe "Garren seems upset… Tony did you close the laundry closet?" she asked casually.

Bill had never seen her in less than pajamas and it took his breath away, she was gorgeous, her flawless skin and perfect figure were like nothing he'd ever seen. She disappeared into the kitchen and he glanced over at Tony who was watching television as if this was normal to him "Yea why?"

"That's where I keep Garren's food" she said as he heard the closet door open.

"Ok, sorry" he said flipping channels "I'm surprised he didn't bark" Tony said.

She emerged "Yea well lately-" she glanced up and saw Bill, suddenly she was very self-conscious. Tony turned to look and see why she had stopped talking, he glanced between Bill and Michelle and smiled at the apparent awkwardness, Tony glanced at Bill's look of awe and chuckled as he went back to flipping channels. She held the towel tighter to her body and scooted off down the hall.

Bill cleared his through and made himself busy setting up the recording gear.

Michelle emerged a few minutes later in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. She wasn't sure what to say at first, and then she noticed the recording equipment "You are debriefing us?" Michelle asked, trying not to sound like she hated the idea.

"Yea" he said quickly "If that's ok" he said.

She nodded and glanced at Tony who was still smiling at Bill's nervousness. She punched him in the arm "Stop" she scolded in a hushed tone.

"Ok so should we start with Tony?" Bill said hoping this interview would take the heat off him and wipe the smile off Tony's face.

"Sure" he smiled sitting back against the couch.

"This is the debrief interview of Tony Almeida by Bill Buchannan, Michelle Dessler is present, it is April 25th 2005 approximately 4PM" Bill announced "Tony can you please explain what you were doing and where you were when you first heard from Jack Bauer."

"It was approximately 12:45PM when I received the distress call from Jack Bauer, I was at my girlfriend, Jen Slater's home watching television when I got the call-"

"Were you intoxicated at the time?"

"Bill!" Michelle said in surprise.

"It's pertinent, you won't be in any trouble, we just need to know every detail, I'm sure you understand"

Tony looked him in the eye "I was not drunk" he said "May I continue? I am very familiar with exactly what information is required in a debrief"

Bill nodded and Michelle eyed him disapprovingly then turned back to Tony.

Tony told his story for about 5 minutes and he began moving on when Bill stopped him "Did your girlfriend have any involvement; I've noticed you haven't mentioned her"

"No"

"So you didn't explain anything to her? Tell her where you were going?"

"No, we're not that close" Tony explained.

"You live together"

"Why do I feel like I'm being interrogated?" he said leaning closer.

"Please continue" Bill said sitting back.

About half an hour later Tony was finally nearing the end "I was stationed on the roof with Agent Castle"

"How did the hostile take control of you?"

"I allowed her to take me in exchange for Castle, he cuffed me, she shot him and then put the gun to my head-"

Michelle stood and walked away, he could tell by the sound of her breathing this part was too hard for her. "Let the record show Michelle Dessler has just exited the room" Bill said. Tony watched her go then glanced at Bill who signaled for him to keep talking and he continued.

_(A short time later)_

"…Yes… I picked her up and carried her to CTU Medical where she was treated, we left 16 hours later and that's all" Tony said standing. He walked down the hall toward her bedroom, her bedroom was dark, the blinds were drawn and she was laying on her side facing away from him. He hesitated

"It's okay" she said softly.

He walked over and sat on the bed behind her, he wanted to lay down and wrap her in his arms, but knew it wasn't a good idea to be that close to her in a bed considering what had almost happened, especially with Bill right down the hall and no doubt listening closely "You okay to do this? We can put it off" he said leaning over her and kissing her head.

She turned in his direction when she felt his lips on her head and pulled his head back down for a real kiss. He kissed her carefully, he didn't kiss her too deeply or too long, he didn't need her panting or making any noises to set Bill off, it was awkward enough.

"I just couldn't go through all that _three_ times" she rubbed her forehead.

Tony smiled crookedly "Twice will be okay not three times, huh?"

"Once was too much" she answered seriously.

He dropped the smile and stroked her face "I'm sorry baby"

"And that's not even including all the nightmares I'm sure I'll be having" she sighed.

"Well, you will never be alone, I will be there with you _every_ single time... every night" he kissed her again, forgetting to keep her quiet. He stopped when her breathing made it obvious and took her hand and kissed it. He sat up and pulled her up with him "Ready?"

She nodded following him down the hall, dropping his hand as they entered the room. Bill looked up "Ready?" he asked sincerely, he knew this was going to be hard for her. Despite her recent decisions which he disapproved of, he still cared that this was going to hurt her, but he would be gentle with his questions.

"Yea let's get this over with" she sighed.

_(Later)_

"What was your last memory at CTU before passing out?" Bill asked.

_She had a small smile on her face "What?" he said with a smile of his own._

"_I've missed you so much…" she said softly "And I am so in love with you…even after all of this… and it's all just starting to hit me… I just" she paused trying not to get emotional "I don't know what I would have done without you"_

"_I know baby and I'm so sorry you had to go through that… I've put you through so much in the past two years… and I didn't even realize it until today" he said with his eyes on the road "I didn't know until I saw you this morning and I can't tell you how sorry I am that I didn't see it earlier… and then for you to have to go through the whole hostage thing…"_

"Umm just talking to Tony in the car as we pulled up to the gates"

"About?"

"Nothing of CTU's concern" she said defensively.

He got the hint "Ok, no problem… that's all then" he said gently.

"Great" she sighed.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Bill said as they all stood.

Michelle glanced at Tony then looked up at Bill "Sure"

They walked out into the hall, outside her apartment door "Look I didn't mean to be harsh with you back at CTU" he said looking down at his feet "I'm really sorry for that"

"It's ok" she brushed him off turning back toward the door.

"But I need you to understand it was for a _reason_" he said grabbing her arm gently.

"Bill you don't need to-" she shook her head.

"_Michelle_, please" he said and she fell silent "Just please… let this happen slowly, there's no reason to rush"

"You sound like Tony"

Bill was completely taken aback "Wh-" he started "What do you mean?" Bill couldn't believe it, Tony was being a gentleman? Bill had always thought of Tony as cold and bitter, it was weird meeting him in person and seeing how gentle and protective he is with Michelle, this was hard to believe.

She raised her eyebrows "he says it's all too stressful for me right now, that we shouldn't rush because" she forced back a smile "because we have forever"


	123. Chapter 123 What A Mess

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _SR-71_)

~ Chapter 123 ~

"Thank you" Bill said taking his bag and heading toward the door "Michelle I'll talk to you later?"

Michelle nodded quickly "Yea" as she followed him to the door.

He walked out and Michelle waved and closed the door. Suddenly she was spun around and gently pushed up against the wall as Tony kissed her passionately. She felt her knees go weak, but he knew what he was doing to her… his arm was already there to catch her.

He pulled back slowly and she looked as though she wasn't ready to stop "Sorry I've been wanting to do that for hours" he smiled.

She tried to catch her breath "You can't keep doing that to me" she panted and he realized she wasn't joking "You know I want more"

He sighed and stroked her face "I know but you have a boyfriend… it wouldn't be right"

"But this is?" she shook her head "I'm _in love_ with you… it doesn't get much worse than that" she said sliding out from his grip "Really… if someone were going to cheat on me I would _so_ much rather them just sleep with someone than to fall in love with someone else" she turned "because if you've taught me anything, it's that real love never fades"

"So if I slept with someone else that would be okay?" he asked.

"Well not okay but better than-" she stopped and looked up at him "Did you?" she was trying to stay calm but he could see she was hiding a great deal of fear.

"No" he said "That is not what I meant Michelle" she didn't look convinced "I haven't been with anyone but you…. since they day we first met" he added and her eyes softened "I really don't think I could bring myself to do it" he looked down at his hands, he looked up "You?"

She looked hurt and slightly offended "No" she shook her head "You saw… before" she said indicating to the living room where she had walked in, in her towel "We've never done anything… the thought of any other man touching me the way you do terrifies me"

She saw a slight pang of anger cross his face, for Pete she was sure, but it dissolved instantly and he pulled her in for a hug "Well you have nothing to worry about" he pulled back so he could see her face "Did Bill ever try to get you to…"

"No" Michelle said "He has always been a gentleman, following my lead… he knew how sensitive I was and he respected that"

Tony nodded "He's a good guy"

Michelle nodded "He's a great guy" she added "And if I had never met you, maybe it could have worked… but after knowing and loving you… even the most perfect guy isn't enough" 

He smiled and kissed her softly.

"You know what?" she said.

"What baby?" he said sitting on the arm of the couch, pulling her down into his lap.

"I'm glad you forced me to slow down… you were right" she said running her fingers through his hair "It wouldn't be right to hurt him like that… to just end things and disappear… he's a good guy and he deserves better than that"

Tony nodded "Same with Jen… I mean… we've been miserable and these people put up with us… I was a drunk loser and she gave me a place to live"

She threw him a weary glance, she didn't like him talking down about himself "I was broken and he was my friend" she nodded.

"We owe them a lot... I don't wanna hurt them"

"Well no matter how gentle we are about it… we both know how this is gonna end" she smiled leaning her forehead against his.

He took her hand and kissed it "Yea" he smiled "I can't wait"

Her phone began ringing. She leaned in and kissed him and then stood to grab it.

"Dessler" she answered.

"Michelle you need to come to Division"

"I thought I was off til tomorrow"

"Your brother is here, he's demanding to see you... he says he doesn't know where you live?"

"There's a reason for that… I'll be right there" she sighed.

"Really?" Tony sighed.

"My brother is at Division" she explained.

Tony looked utterly confused "Wha-Why?" he said shaking his head.

"He doesn't know where I live, but he knows where I work… he's probably just worried now that the news is releasing more information on the attacks"

"Well I guess I'll come and grab my car" he said scratching his stubble "I should probably go see Jen anyway"

Michelle nodded and turned to go get dressed then she stopped. She turned slowly and looked at him "Will you come back tonight? ... like… to sleep" she asked timidly.

A smile spread across his face "Of course baby… how else am I gonna sleep?"

"What about Jen?" she asked biting her lip.

Tony sighed "Look Michelle" he stood and took a few steps toward her "Don't get me wrong… I care about Jen and I don't want to hurt her… but I'm _in love_ with you" he put his hand up to her face "So I will do my best by her… but when it comes down to it… I'm spending the rest of my life with _you._" A tear slipped out of her eye "Whoah whoah, none of that" he said kissing the tear "No crying" he insisted gently and she nodded "Now go get dressed" he smiled nudging her toward her bedroom.

_(Later)_

"Michelle!" Danny said standing as soon as he saw he "_There_ you are!" he said hugging her tightly.

"Hi Danny" she said "I thought you promised me 5 years ago to never show up at my job again?"

He shook his head "No, no…Me, Candie and Dad have been worried sick…what's wrong with your phone?"

"Sorry I've just been a little out of it" she explained.

"We've been freaking out!" he said "And now I find out you haven't even been honest with us? You moved? You and Tony got a divorce? You got a boyfriend?" Danny said pointing to Bill.

Michelle was suddenly furious "What did you tell him?" she asked Bill.

"No Michelle its ok… I told you before you even got married that guy was trouble" he looked at Bill "I never liked him"

Bill was focused on Michelle "He wanted to know how I knew so much about him, I thought you had told _your_ family"

"No Michelle, don't get me wrong, I totally approve" Danny said quickly "Tony was a jerk"

"I don't want your approval" emotion began to flood her voice "And Tony is _not_ a jerk"

"Michelle he was an alcoholic loser" Danny said quickly "Dad told me he yelled at you"

Michelle's eyes filled with tears and her voice shook but her eyes burned with anger "Get _out_!"

"What?" he said frantically "What's wrong? I'm just saying I-"

"_Now _or I will call security" she threatened trying to keep her breathing even.

"Michelle I wasn't tryin to piss you off" he said taking a few steps toward the door, at this point he actually was afraid of her.

"Michelle" Bill tried to calm her.

"Dad's worried" Danny said quickly.

"I'm fine, I love you and I will call you guys soon" she said more calmly, but then anger seeped back into her words "But don't you ever talk about Tony like that again"

"I was just-"

"Don't." she stopped him. She turned and glared at Bill "Show him out" she said turning toward her office and walking out.

_(Later)_

"What are you doing here?" Jen said loathingly as Tony walked in.

"Look you have every right to be angry, but I'm-"

"Whoah whoah! Wait" she smiled "Were you just about to apologize?" she laughed spitefully "Let me guess? She dumped you again?"

"No"

She ignored him "Well guess what? Don't come crawling back to me" she said taking a drink "Cuz I don't wanna hear it" she continued "I took you in when you were out on your ass and the first time you see her you just… run out on me?" the hurt was evident in her eyes "No, don't come crying to me"

"I'm not"

"You're right… you were just leaving" she said pointing to all his stuff which was thrown in the corner.

Maybe ending things nicely wasn't gonna happen for him, but if she felt better kicking him to the curb, he'd allow it "Ok" he said.

"I was so good to you and you are just stupid… didn't know a good thing when you had it" she continued as he collected his things "I saw a better man in you Tony, I swear I did… I guess I was wrong" she said turning back toward the kitchen "Leave your keys on the counter"

She got almost all the way into her room and stopped "You are not even gonna fight me?" she asked.

"No" he said "You are right" she looked at him questioningly "I didn't know a good thing when I had it"

"Are you sober?" she asked.

He nodded "Ya"

"She didn't dump you" Jen realized out loud "You came to get your stuff" she concluded.

"No" he shook his head "I came to see you"

"No you didn't"

"Yea, I did" Tony said "Michelle and I aren't back together"

"Don't try it" Jen said "I'm not sticking around to find out… just get the hell outta here"

He nodded and picked up a few bags. She turned with tears in her eyes and threw a few things out the door "Get out!"

He hurried out of the house with the rest "I hate to end things like this Jen"

"I don't _care_" she said through gritted teeth "I don't EVER wanna see you again!" she said slamming the door.

Tony quickly loaded his stuff into his Jeep and began driving… this time he was on his way home.

He pulled up to the house 15 minutes later. He stared up at it, what had once been warm and full of life looked like a ghost house, the landscaping was dead, weather had caused damage and never been repaired, and the gate…. He stepped out of the car and walked up to the fence. He stood there staring at the gaping hole in the fence. He remembered Michelle begging him to fix it… he remembered thinking she was annoying…and he remembered the scar he had seen on Garren's leg this morning, shooting him a look full of hatred. He kicked the fence, making the hole bigger, he pushed it and it wobbled… he continued til the section of fencing was on the ground in pieces. He was furious that he had let this happen. How could he have been so blind? He stomped on the pieces of the fence and then stepped back and tried to steady his breathing. He pulled out his phone "Hi, I need the number of fencing company in the LA area…thank you"

_(Meanwhile)_

"Can you see that this gets to McLaughlin" Michelle asked politely, placing a letter on Bill's desk.

"Michelle I'm sorry about before" Bill said quickly.

"It's fine… I was worked up for more than one reason… I'm not angry anymore" she said calmly.

"You sure? Because I had no idea-"

"It's ok Bill" she insisted.

He nodded "Ok… can I ask what this is?"

"My letter of resignation" she stated.

He suddenly remembered what she had said when she thought Tony was dead…

"_We decided we were gonna leave this, go somewhere and start again" she had said softly, her voice hoarse from screaming as she gazed into space._

"This has nothing to do with you" she said, her voice strong now, her eyes sure.

"I know exactly what this is about" he countered.

"This is _my_ decision" she raised her tone slightly and he took the hint.

"Ok, if this is what _you_ want" he offered.

"It is" she insisted.

He nodded and she nodded once and walked out.

_(Later)_

Michelle finished washing the last dish as she hummed the song playing on the radio. She shut off the light and glanced at the oven, it was past 8 o'clock and she hadn't heard from Tony, she was beginning to worry. She sighed and headed into her bedroom to change into her pajamas. She didn't want to upset Jen by calling while he was there, but she really wanted him to come back. As she pulled her shirt on she heard a knock at the door. She smiled and ran to the door. When she opened the door and he smiled at her she jumped into his arms. He hugged her tightly and kissed the side of her head.

He had spent his entire day ripping down the fence…their yard was huge so it had been a lot of work. He was sore, but holding her was therapeutic, nothing felt better. They stood there holding each other for a moment, just relaxing and soaking each other in.

He pulled back just enough that he could see her face "Was everything ok with your brother"

She sighed and led him into the living room where they curled up on the couch together "He showed up freaking out that he hadn't heard from me and that my whole family is so worried and why haven't I been answering my phone and-"

"Slow down" Tony smiled stroking her face "So he was upset?"

"Until Bill told him what happened with us"

Tony furrowed his brow "He didn't already know?"

"No, I've kinda been hiding from most of my family… and yours"

He nodded "yea me too, but why would Bill tell him?"

She shot him a look that showed she had been very angry too "I was so angry… he said Danny was asking questions and he had no idea"

"Do you think that's the truth?"

"I don't know… I guess" she sighed "I suppose it doesn't matter… I just… I got _so_ angry because everyone is trying to make you look like this monster and they have no right"

Tony thought back to the things he seen in the house today "You've always defended me, but I think it bothers you so much because the things he says are true"

"They are not" she insisted "Maybe they were for a short amount of time… _Maybe,_ but even so it's none of their business, who is he to talk? He left his family, he cheated, he almost killed himself… who is _he_ to talk about you?"

"Wait Danny was saying these things?" Tony asked.

"Yea… I threw him out of the office"

Tony nodded "He never liked me"

"That's no excuse"

He smiled and leaned down, pulling her face toward his for a soft kiss "You are amazing" he whispered "Still defending me after all I've done… even when I'm wrong"

Garren growled.

"You're not wrong" Michelle said reaching over to Garren "Com'ere you" she said and Garren backed out of her reach. "Garren come _here_" she ordered.

He eyed her suspiciously, but slowly stepped back into her reach. She grabbed his collar and pulled up so he followed by jumping onto the couch.

"This has got to stop buddy" she said as he rested his head in her lap, he was listening but watching Tony with a warning glare "Garren" she warned him "Be _nice_" she demanded.

He looked up at her with a pleading look "It's _okay_" she said more softly "It's Daddy" she said petting him "Daddy's back" Tony watched how tender she was with him, hearing the word 'Daddy' out of her made his eyes sting with tears… 'Daddy' had left them… turned his back… no wonder Garren was so angry.

"Pet him" Michelle said to Tony. Tony offered his hand for Garren to sniff. "Go ahead" Michelle told Garren. Garren sniffed his hand then looked back at Michelle, Michelle patted his head then, as proof, she turned and pulled Tony's face to hers, kissing him softly and slowly as she petted Garren. He whined quietly with anxiety, not sure if he should jump in or not. Michelle pulled back and smiled at Garren "See, I'm ok, he's not gonna hurt me" she promised. Tony kissed the side of her head as tears rolled down his face, he was happy she was too busy watching Garren to see, but Garren saw.

"Baby I'll be right back" he said sliding off the couch, turning his face away before she could see him. He walked into the kitchen and took out a bottle of water. He stood looking out the window.

_I confess it's all true._

_I'm a mess, what a fool_

_Now what do I do_

_I need your help to get up from my knees_

_I can't seem to see the forest for the trees_

_As I wait in my silent misery_

_All I'm asking is please...forgive me_

_Now she knows me_

_She wants me to be_

_Someone I can't be_

_...and she wants me_

_...and she needs me_

_...and she wants me_

_Because she loves me_

_SHATTERED_

_Now you see inside_

_I no longer hide_

_Or fall between the cracks you left behind_

_Shattered, now you're out of time_

_You've come this far to be denied_

_What a shame, I'm to blame_

He suddenly felt something cold and wet under his fingertips. He looked down and Garren was pushing his nose into Tony's hand, his way of asking to be petted. Tony smiled and knelt down to rub Garren's head. He heard a laugh and looked up to see Michelle leaning against the wall, watching with a smile on her face.

He smiled and her smile disappeared when she saw the tears "Tony, what's wrong?" she said stepping toward him.

Her concern for him made it worse, more tears came "I really screwed up didn't I?" he said starting to cry.

She knelt down with him and hugged him tightly "We both made mistakes"

"I was awful to you" he cried and the sound of his broken voice brought tears to her eyes.

"You were going through a hard time" she offered.

"Don't do that" he said seriously as he began to stand back up "Don't make excuses… what I did was inexcusable and I'm still trying to come to terms with how bad it was"

"It was worse being apart"

He looked up at her "Was it?"

"Not feeling anything… being empty all the time… yea… that was the worst" she nodded "But that part was my fault"

"No… you had to leave… that was _not _your fault" he said taking her hands.

She shook her head "No…. if you are gonna take responsibility for your mistakes then so am I… I stood in that church and promised you love… through good and bad _forever_" a tear rolled down her face "And then I walked out….I was wrong"

He pulled her into a tight embrace "Okay, okay" he said in a soothing tone "I say that's enough for one night" he choked.

She nodded and he swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. Garren followed wagging his tail. Tony laid her down and pulled her close, she buried her head in his chest the way they always used to do. He pulled the blankets over them and quietly calmed each other down.

As she began to calm down he kissed her head and he suddenly felt a weight behind them. He looked down at Michelle and a smile spread across her face. He rolled his eyes and smiled back.

"Ok Garren, just this once"


	124. Chapter 124 Changed

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by )

~ Chapter 124 ~

"Good morning beautiful" a low raspy voice whispered into Michelle's ear. A smile spread across her face, but instead of opening her eyes she listened to his breathing, hanging on every word, soaking in every bit of the moment. "You are the worst fake sleeper" he accused softly.

She giggled keeping her eyes closed.

"Micheeeeeeeeelle" he called "Open those beautiful eyes" he pleaded as she felt his fingertips creep up her side. He knew exactly where she was ticklish and she had a feeling that was his next move, but instead they came to her stomach "I'm making your favorite breakfast"

She smiled, she was hungry "Okay" she agreed opening her eyes.

He kissed her softly "I knew you'd come around"

"I was afraid of being tickled" she smiled sheepishly.

"I wouldn't tickle you… tickling turns into a tickle fight and tickle fights usually turn into making out which usually leads to…" he wiggled his eyebrows "and we're not doing that yet"

She rolled her eyes "No because it would be _so_ horrible" she groaned dramatically.

He sat up "No quite the opposite… that's the problem" he grinned climbing out of bed.

Michelle's phone rang; she picked it up off the nightstand and looked at the screen.

"Your boyfriend?" Tony teased.

"I don't have a boyfriend" she said…. But he was right, she and Bill hadn't officially broken things off… Michelle didn't want to do that to him after how nice he had been, but as she laid next to Tony the whole thing seemed ridiculous.

He shook his head with a smile "But you're not single, are you?"

"Bite me"

He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Dessler" she answered.

"You sound happy" Bill commented. Bill sounded bitter and he had every right, he had to know Tony had been spending the night the past few days. The only reason she hadn't officially broken up with him is because she and Tony had decided to do this slowly so as to not hurt anyone… Bill didn't deserve to be hurt… but what was the point? He was getting hurt anyway because no matter how slow they tried to take things… Tony and Michelle were like magnets, once they got a little close… they couldn't stop themselves… at this point she felt she was just torturing Bill by not ending things.

All she wanted to do was be with Tony, there was no doubt in her mind, she just wished she could have Tony and not hurt Bill, but that was impossible. She wished Bill would make it easy and just dump her like Jen had done to Tony, but instead Bill insisted on trying to convince her that Tony was untrustworthy. He was desperately trying to show her that she shouldn't trust Tony with her heart.

Too bad he already had it.

"I'm having a good morning… what's up?"

"You need to get here, Heller and McLaughlin want a conference with you" he explained "They are not happy about your resignation"

She sighed then looked up at Tony and smiled "Well nothing they can say is going to change my mind"

"They still wanna talk to you"

"Fine, I'll work today" Michelle said and she tried not to laugh as Tony pushed out his bottom lip "but I'm taking the next two days off and I'm turning off my phone" Tony smiled at this.

"Okay, that's fine" he agreed.

"I'll be there in an hour" she said hanging up. She smiled up at Tony "You better get cooking"

_(Later)_

"I saw that" Michelle said not looking up from her plate "Stop feeding him"

Garren whined, somehow he knew exactly what she was saying "Sorry buddy" Tony shrugged "So what's this important meeting about?"

"My bosses are not very happy with my resignation" she explained.

Tony dropped his fork "Your what?"

"My resignation… I handed it in yesterday" she said more slowly, confused as to why he was confused "Right? I thought you said you wanted us _both_ to leave CTU so we can be together"

"Already?" he asked "I mean… don't get me wrong I'm _thrilled_" he smiled with a small laugh "But I'm just a little shocked you dropped it _that_ quickly… you spent your whole life building that career…. You loved it more than anything"

"Anything but you" she corrected.

He stood and walked around the table to kiss her "I love you so much" he whispered crouching to her height as she sat in the chair "I just figured you would want to wait til you were sure about this all, but I'm so happy baby"

"I was sure four years ago when you proposed to me… I was sure when I said 'I Do'… I've been sure every day since then… even when it hurt… and I'm sure now… and that's never gonna change" she said leaning her forehead on his.

"I wish I could show you just how much I love you" he sighed.

"You did" she whispered, she took a breath to try and keep her composure "Two years ago you showed me and I will never forget that again… I just wish I had done the same for you"

"I don't" he said "I could be visiting you in jail right now instead of making you breakfast"

She looked down at her hands and he waited for her to say something, but he noticed her breathing get quicker, she looked up and tears were rolling down her cheeks "I don't know how you could forgive me…. I can't forgive me" she cried.

He pulled her down into his lap "Come here" he soothed "There is nothing to forgive… you made the best decision you could"

She shook her head "I love you more than anything Tony, I swear I do" she insisted.

"I know that baby, I know" he assured her.

"How could you?" Michelle asked "I chose… other things over you… I didn't pick you"

"You weren't choosing as my wife… you were choosing as a federal agent"

"I was wrong"

"No you weren't, you made a better decision then I did… if I had made the same decision you did, we'd be raising our children right now… not sitting on the kitchen floor trying to put our marriage back together" he said and she sat and thought, trying to stop crying "You were out… you escaped I didn't have to save you… we could have been okay"

"We _are_ okay… or at least we can be"

"Okay so this is the last time we go through this one" he vowed "We both made decisions, we both made mistakes, but we love each other and everything is okay now"

"Okay" she said burying her face into his chest. He rubbed her back and kissed her head as she calmed herself. After a few minutes passed and her breathing was normal, she finally pulled her face away so she could see him. He face was flush and her makeup was running "My makeup is a mess, isn't it?"

"You're beautiful" he smiled kissing her.

"That's not what I asked" she rolled her eyes standing up, then pulling him up.

It was quiet for a few seconds and Tony looked down into her eyes "We should have never been put in those positions… having to choose between our jobs, our freedom, our own lives, our country, the lives of our family, all those people, and children … or each other"

She nodded "That's why the job has to go"

_(Later)_

"Michelle" Joe McLaughlin welcomed her fondly.

Secretary Heller smiled "You look great!"

Bill had to agree there was a twinkle in her eye he had never seen before and her smile had change dramatically. Now when smiled, it wasn't just her lips, her whole face smiled and her gorgeous teeth came out…when she smiled the room lit up "Hey Michelle" he greeted pulling a chair out.

"Thank you" she said sitting.

"I have to be honest with you Michelle, you ruined my day… no my week, this morning" McLaughlin smiled.

"My apologies"

"Michelle is there anything at all we can offer to keep you?" Heller asked folding his hands on the table "You are a great asset, I'm not sure we would have survived what happened last week had it not been for you… to be honest I fear the next attack without you"

"I couldn't agree more" Bill echoed.

"Higher pay? More vacation time? A bigger office? I can give you just about anything" Joe offered.

"I assure you, what I want you can't give me" Michelle smiled "But I appreciate your kind offers"

"What is it?" McLaughlin leaned toward her.

"A family" she answered "I love this job, I really do, but we all know this is not conducive to raising a family"

"We can keep you out of the field" Heller said.

Michelle shook her head "If I have any place at all, my family could be used as leverage against me and it's the most terrifying thing you could imagine… trust me I have way too much experience with it"

They fell silent, no one could argue.

Bill could not wrap his head around the fact that she had just said she was starting a family. She and Tony weren't even back together and she wanted to give up her career for a family with him, this was crazy "Don't you think this is a little soon?" he said speaking about her and Tony, but then he realized his audience "I mean, what about a trial period? Say a 6 month hiatus? You can go for 6 months and see if this is what you want… because you are giving up a lot here… and plan to return in 6 months, unless you are completely sure by then that you don't want to come back"

"That's a good idea" Heller nodded.

"We can do that" McLaughlin affirmed.

"Respectfully, no thank you" she said to Heller and McLaughlin. She glanced at Bill "I am sure this is what I want"

"Well regardless, we will have you back any time, don't forget that" McLaughlin stood "It's been a great pleasure Ms. Dessler"

_(Meanwhile)_

It was just broken glass.

But it wasn't.

_When he finally did stumble in the door after 1AM he was greeted by something thrown in his direction. She clearly hadn't been aiming for him, because if that were the case, she would have hit him. He froze, even as hammered as he was, he knew something was seriously wrong because Michelle NEVER lost her temper._

"_What the-"he started._

"_This has got to end!" she cried, screaming. She had reached the end of her rope a long time ago. She had been patient with him for so long. Even when he yelled and screamed, even when he came home drunk at 3AM, she had always tried to help, tried to talk to him, tried giving him space only to watch him get worse in return. Every moment of it had been killing her, breaking her heart and she couldn't bear another minute of it, and to her, it seemed like he didn't even care._

_He knew her voice and he had never heard such vehement anger come from her. "Michelle-"_

"_I can't Tony," her anger broke into sobs that shook her entire body and it chilled him to the core to see her so broken "I- I can't-"_

_It had never been more clear to him than now… in his drunken state he could see. He had officially destroyed her. She was everything he loved about life, she had always been the best part of him, he had known for months she didn't deserve this, he should have ended this before she got hurt…like this "Miche-"_

"_I CAN'T live like this Tony," she begged._

"_You're right… you shouldn't stay," he said quietly, but she hadn't missed a single word._

_The room suddenly fell silent, her sobs froze, her entire body froze. The words couldn't possibly have been what she thought. After a moment she found her shaky voice. "What?"_

"_You should go" he said, knowing with drunken certainty that he was right. The next thing she heard was him slamming the guest bedroom door._

He slumped to the floor on his knees running his hands over his head… what a mess. He began picking up the pieces when he noticed discoloration on the carpet… beer spills no doubt… they were all over the carpet. He could smell it now too, he sighed and went to retrieve the steam-cleaner.

As he scrubbed his phone rang. He turned off the machine when he saw it was Michelle "Hey" he greeted softly.

"Hi" she said and he could hear the smile in her voice "I'm all done at work and I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch"

He smiled and put the brush down, he had been cleaning all day, he was ready for a break "Ok" he stood "Your favorite place?" he offered.

"Perfect" she said and his phone beeped signaling that there was a call waiting.

"Baby I gotta go, someone's on the other line, but I'll see you in 30 minutes?" he asked softly.

"Ok" she said and he changed calls.

"How's it going Jon?"

"Hey, lets grab a drink" he said, his voice was heavy, he was already drunk… no surprise there.

"Not today Jon" Tony said "And you should think about layin off the booze" Tony suggested as he finished the carpet.

"Lay off? What are you my mother?" he growled.

"Just sayin"

"Don't" he said "Why? What could you possibly have goin on?"

"Nothing" he lied "Just not drinking… look I gotta go… call me before you start tomorrow" Tony said hanging up. He sighed

"_You're my favorite brother'" Jon laughed, patting Tony on the back_

_Tony took another drink, he never spoke much._

"_Well… most of the time… I hated you for a while actually, but now…now we're cool"_

"_Why?" Tony wondered._

"_You had a wife, mine was taken away from me" he said icily "But now she's gone so we're even" he smiled._

_Tony stood and walked away._

He put the cleaning supplies back and ran his fingers over the wall he had painted today, he had patched up dents from his drunken frustration…. He had started punching walls when he got frustrated, which was all the time. Slowly going around the house cleaning and fixing all the traces of those months was causing Tony to come to terms with just how bad things had gotten and it was sad that he couldn't even remember it all.

Tony walked into the restaurant 10 minutes later and spotted Michelle "Hey" she smiled, standing and hugging him tightly. He pulled her back and kissed her softly. She seemed a little surprised, but happy.

"Hi Sweetie" he answered as they sat.

"I'm so hungry" she commented.

"Yea I haven't eaten all day" he said, silently reminding himself to go to the store and stock the fridge after lunch.

She glanced at him disapprovingly and he shrugged with a meek smile and they turned to the menus. She found what she wanted and laid down her menu. She gazed at him "So…" she thought "Who was calling you before?" she asked curiously, guessing it was probably Jen.

"My brother" Tony answered.

Michelle smiled "Yea, how's he doing?"

Tony looked down, he hated doing this, making her sad "Umm, not good"

"Why?" she asked, instantly concerned "Did something happen to the baby?" Michelle asked sadly.

Tony paused "She died"

Michelle shook her head "I thought they were having a boy?"

"I meant Han-" he stopped himself… this was not a good restaurant conversation "look I'll explain later-"

Her mouth hung opened and her tears welled in her eyes "What?" her mind reeled "How?"

"Some early labor complications… they let her go into labor but she couldn't take it or something, they tried surgery, but in the end they got the baby out, but it had worse complications and died within a day or two… I really don't know the details"

A tear escaped her eye "How is he holding up?"

"Like me about two weeks ago"

"I need a minute" she said heading to the bathroom.

Tony ordered their food to go and 15 minutes later they met at her apartment. He could tell she had cried all the way back to the apartment. She was silent as they ate, with a tissue in her hand, constantly wiping the tears away.

After only finishing a third of her meal she sat back on the couch "How can so many horrible things happen all at once?" she asked.

He pulled her into his arms "I know"

"I never knew she could die" Michelle cried, after a minute or two she began to quiet down and she looked up at him "I'm sorry, this must have been hard for you too" she whispered stroking his cheek.

"I loved Hannah and I will always miss her… but no actually it wasn't that hard" he sighed "Hannah's death was terrible but I was so out of it with all the alcohol and nothing came close to missing you… her death just made it worse because I had no one to grieve with… expect Jon"

"I'm here now" she said wrapping her arms around his shoulder and he offered a weak smile, kissing her jaw. He rested his head on her arm and they sat there for a few minutes.

Tony noticed a bottle on her kitchen counter "Who gave you wine?" he asked.

"Joe McLaughlin… a going away present"

"I thought they were upset you were leaving" he wondered.

"Ok so maybe it's a please change your mind present" she let out a smile laugh; it took effort to try and laugh after the horrible news she had just heard. She looked over at Tony, he was still staring at the wine "Oh!" she said worriedly "I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking! I'll throw it away" she quickly got up but he caught her arm. All she saw was hurt in his eyes.

All he saw in hers was fear. Fear that he would turn right back into a monster, she didn't trust him yet, but why should she? "It's not like that" he muttered softly, looking down.

"I'm sorry" she whispered sitting next to him.

"Please stop apologizing…. It's not your fault you think I'm a drunk" he said "But I promise you it's not like that… maybe at first it was but after a while I wasn't drinking because I _wanted_ to anymore…. I just couldn't stop because it was the only thing that kept the pain of losing you from killing me"

"But I'm here now" she took his hands in hers.

He nodded "So I don't ever want to drink again… especially after seeing what it did… I don't need to and I wouldn't want to" she nodded and looked down at their hands but he pulled her chin up to look into her eyes "And I need you to know that I'm never gonna be that way again… _ever_"

_The things I've done man that was not me_

_I wish I could take it all back_

_I just want to tell em' that_

_I've changed for the better_

_More Smiles, that's better_

_I even started to forgive myself_

_I got off track, I made mistakes_

_Back slid my way into that place where souls get lost_

_Lines get crossed_

_and the pain won't go away_

_I hit my knee, I'm here I stand_

_There I was, now here I am_

_Here I am, Here I am, Here I am_

_Changed_

_Yes I am_

_I'm changed for the better._

(45 minutes later)

They were watching of their favorite movies, Tony looked down at Michelle for the third times and her eyes were on the television but he could see she was a million miles away. He turned the volume down and turned to her "Baby what's wrong?"

"Nothing" she lied.

"Michelle" he half-smiled "It's me" he said "I know you can fool everyone else, but I can see it"

She shrugged "I'm just sad about Hannah"

"You looked scared"

"How come your mom could have 4 kids but Gina, Hannah and Kate…" she shook her head.

"I have no idea" he whispered into her hair as he kissed her head.

"I mean this is terrible in so many ways" she explained "It's sad because they lost another baby…it heartbreaking because it killed her… and its terrifying because… I want children"

He hugged her tighter, he had been thinking the same thing, he wanted kids with her, but never at the price of her life "We're gonna figure something out" he said "But we are never risking your life"

"Do you think we will?" she asked as he wiped a tear.

"I hope so" he nodded.

"Maybe we'll be lucky… we've never really tried before" she ran her hand down his side and let it fall into his lap. She leaned up and kissed him.

He could tell by the way she kissing him that she wanted to start something, he leaned his forehead against hers and pulled his mouth back, he knew she could win this war easily if he wasn't careful "We will, someday" he hugged her tightly and stroked her hair.

She knew what he was doing and she hated this space he kept forcing between them, she pulled back and stood up "I can't stand this anymore" she huffed.

"What?" Tony asked with confusion.

"I know it's _only_ been a few days since… everything… but really Tony, who are we kidding? I know you don't want me to make any quick decisions, I know you want this to be perfect and you are right Bill should have a fair chance with me… but let's get real here, NO ONE has a fair chance with me and they never will" she was clearly very frustrated "He's a great man and I wanted to make this easier for him by waiting to make a decision but come on… there's no decision to make… we spend every night together because it's the only way I can sleep, I spend all day thinking about you and we are sitting here talking about our future children… there's no competition… my heart chose you a long time ago and that will never change"

Tony couldn't help but smile even though she seemed frustrated.

"This is just torture!" she said with a little more emotion "It has to be torture for him and I know its torture for me… I can't stand this space you keep putting between us… I _need_ to be with you, not "sort of with you", not "maybe someday with you"… I need to be all the way with you, everyday, all the time, as close as possible" she shook her head "I can't do this anymore"

He stood and pulled her into his arms smiling. She pushed him away shaking her head "No, no… we are gonna do this right" she turned around and pulled her phone out of her purse "I'll end this right now"

"Really? Over the phone? Come on Michelle"

"Don't!" she warned "Don't do that" she said beginning to call but then something struck her and she hung up and slowly looked up at him "Wait… is there a reason?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you not want to be with me? Is that why you don't want me to break up with Bill?"

"Of _course_ I want to be with you" he said stroking her cheek "There is nothing I want more"

"Then why?"

He looked down and sighed then looked back up at her "because the last thing I want is for you to have regrets"

"Loving you… choosing you is the one thing I will never regret"

He pulled her close kissing her passionately. She soaked in his kiss, dropping her phone. She ran her hands up his back and hung from his shoulders as her knees went weak and jumped when her phone rang. She struggled to catch her breath as she scrambled for the phone on the floor. She picked it up and read the screen "Bill Buchannan" she looked up at Tony and flipped it open

"Bill" she said quickly.

"Michelle, did you just try to call me? My phone only rang once so-"

"Yea I did" she said more calmly as she realized what she was about to do. She hated to hurt him, but this had to be done, she would do anything to be with Tony and that would never change "Bill look, I know we've been putting this off, but I think we both know-"

"It sounds like you are ending things" he cut her off with a sigh.

"I am" she affirmed gently.

"Honestly, I was surprised I didn't get _this_ phone call days ago so I'm not surprised but… before we do this I need to talk to you" Bill needed one last chance to warn her, to try and stop her from getting hurt and to assure her he would always be there and never hurt her.

"Ok talk to me about what?" Michelle said wanting to get this all over with.

"I'd prefer to talk in person" Bill said and she was silent, she knew it was all pointless, no one could ever change her mind "Please Michelle, I'm begging you… it's all I ask… just a conversation, perhaps over food"

She thought for a second and shook her head "Bill if you're trying to persuade-"

"_Please_ Michelle" he begged softly "Just one hour"

She sighed, she owed him that much "Fine, what time?"

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7 and I promise to have you back by 8"

"Ok" she said "I'll see you tomorrow then" she hung up and looked up at Tony. She couldn't help but feel lighter now that she had told Bill "You men are driving me nuts"

He laughed "Come on, let's go for a walk"

She picked up Garren's leash and handed it to him "Especially you… you're driving me nuts the most"

"Just trying to be a gentleman" he said teasingly as he put the leash on Garren and they headed out her door "I just didn't want you to look back on this and feel like we rushed into this" he said as they went down the elevator. She shot him a look "I know, I know… you are sure… I don't understand why you trust me, but I love that you do" he kissed her "I was just protecting you"

A man sitting in the lobby watched them leave "Ok they're leaving, we can set up now… her apartments on the third floor" he whispered then listened to the person on the other end "Oh they will pay... no one fools you and lives to tell about it"

She rolled her eyes "Bill wants to meet up for an hour tomorrow, but it's over" she insisted.

"Ok" he stroked her face with an amused smile. This was the woman he had crushed. Over and over for months he had broken her heart and then for a year she had been in agonizing pain….yet here she was…_trying_ to be frustrated, fighting that same gorgeous smile….she had to _try_ to act angry…any other woman would have no problem being genuinely angry at him, any other woman would have run him over with a car or left and never looked back after what he had done… but she was one of a kind…despite it all she was giving up a great man and great career to be with him.

"I'm single" she reiterated stubbornly. She was trying to hang on to her frustration but his smile was melting it away.

He smiled and kissed her forehead. He took her hand "No you're not"


	125. Chapter 125 Fall Here

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

_Finallyyy done with class… thank god… ok back to writing…_

~ Chapter 125 ~

"I missed this" she said softly as they walked along the street.

He smiled down at her "Me too baby"

"And that" she smiled "I missed the names you call me"

"I missed your smile" he answered.

"Your laugh" she added.

"Holding hands" he added kissing her hand which wrapped in his.

"You know…" she thought "I don't think I've had _any_ fun since the virus"

He shuddered slightly at the thought "Yea" he agreed "Let's do something fun" she smiled and he said "Wanna go see a movie?"

"Can we get ice cream after?" she asked.

"Of course! We _always_ do" he kissed her forehead and they steered Garren back toward the apartment.

_(An hour later)_

Tony stood in line trying to decide which movie Michelle would like most.

"Well don't you look content" she snapped "Glad you're happy with your new bitch of a girlfriend… keep running from the truth Tony, maybe _you_ can sleep at night but just remember"

Corey interrupted "Gin-"

"No matter how much you _pretend_ to move on" she continued "No matter where she is, what she's doing… she's hurting…thanks to you" Gina shook her head in disgust and turned back to Corey.

"The bathrooms here aren't_ that _bad" Michelle smiled.

Gina's jaw hit the floor. She snatched Michelle in for a rib-crackingly tight hug "Oh my GOD!" she laughed. She pulled back and her eyes switched back and forth between Tony and Michelle "So… you guys…"

Tony smiled "Yea"

Michelle nodded and Gina hugged her tightly again "Michelle" she said as she squeezed harder and her voice weakened "You have no idea how happy I am to see you"

Michelle pulled back "Hey, hey no crying"

Gina smiled wiping a tear away "Sorry, sorry" she said taking a breath and forcing another smile.

"It's ok" Michelle smiled.

Gina looked up at her and couldn't believe it, she had lost all hope that she would ever see Michelle again, at this thought, she lost her composure "I've missed you guys so much" she said beginning to cry.

Michelle pulled her in for yet another hug so she could calm herself without anyone in the lobby seeing her cry. She looked up at Tony and their eyes had a silent conversation. Gina suddenly pulled back, her face still wet and flushed "I'm getting married" she blurted with a teary smile. Michelle took her hand and looked at the ring then smiled over at Corey "That's great!" she laughed with surprise and she turned and kissed Corey on the cheek "You guys are gonna do great" Michelle told Gina.

Another tear escaped "That means so much to me, you have no idea" she hugged Michelle "You are the one person I needed to hear that from… I've wanted to tell you for so long"

"Hey do you guys wanna skip the movie?" Tony offered and Corey nodded.

Gina looked up, she had forgotten where they were "Definitely! There is no way I could sit in a theater and focus after _this!_" she said throwing her arm over Michelle's shoulder "Besides, we have a wedding to plan!" she smiled and then glanced up at Corey who rolled his eyes.

He shook his head and leaned down and kissed her forehead. He turned to Tony with a desperate look "Wedding planning" he groaned

Tony smiled "It'll be rough but you'll get through it bud" he laughed and looked over at Michelle "And in the end it's worth it"

"Alright well I wanna ride with Michelle" Gina announced "We have so much to talk about" she smiled "Tony do you wanna go with Corey?"

Tony and Micelle exchanged nervous glances, they really weren't okay with being apart, they missed each other so much and it was obvious.

Gina read these looks and sighed "Come on Tony, you can give her up for ten minutes"

Tony looked back at Michelle to decide, ten minutes seemed awfully long right now, but Gina probably needed Michelle right now.

Michelle nodded reluctantly and Tony surrendered "Ok, we'll see you there" as he kissed Michelle and followed Corey.

"Where we going? Our place?" Corey asked and everyone nodded.

Michelle climbed into her car and paused, every time she got into the driver seat she was hit by flash memories from the awful night when she mourned Tony in that exact seat.

Gina was so excited she didn't notice as she jumped into the passenger seat "Soooooo" she smiled "Tell me everything… did he come and find you? Did you hunt him down? Did you kick that stupid girl Jen's ass?"

Michelle smiled soberly "No" she thought for a second and Gina eyed her closely "It's really not a happy story"

"Of _course_ it is! You guys are back together, that's the happiest ending ever! Any story with an ending _that_ happy can't be so bad"

"Umm lets see… CTU crisis, United States almost getting completely obliterated, I walk in and he's there, I snap at him and call him a drunk who can't keep a job, I find out he has a girlfriend, he finds out I have a boyfriend, he accuses me of cheating while we were married, as soon as we begin to recover…" Michelle slows as she has to work harder to keep her breathing steady.

"He accused you of cheating?" Gina couldn't believe it.

"You remember that car explosion at your old apartment complex?"

"Yea" she answered.

"I watched that… live… I watched Tony walk across that parking lot and get into that car…then I watched it explode" she said blinking back tears, she was determined not to get emotional.

"_What_ are you _talking_ about?" Gina asked "Tony's fine!"

"Remember how that terrorist used me as leverage against Tony the day of the virus?"

"Yea"

"This one knew about that and called me asking me to do the same for him"

"They had him hostage?" Gina asked.

Michelle nodded.

"But you did it so why would-"

Michelle looked down into her lap, playing with the car keys.

"You didn't do it"

"I started to" Michelle insisted "But I thought we could get Tony back without letting this woman free… she was the only way to stop the missile"

"Missile?" Gina said in disbelief "There was a MISSILE?" Gina couldn't believe it "I am so confused" she took a second to process it all "But wait wait wait," she began a moment later "You said you saw Tony get into the car that exploded?"

"It was someone his size, in his clothes… I though he was dead… for 21 minutes I thought everything that mattered to me had just been blown to a million pieces"

"But he was okay…" Gina assured her "I'm sure you were so happy when you found out"

"I thought I was dreaming… I didn't believe it…even when I saw him…" Michelle took a breath as emotion began to rise again "I'm still afraid that I'm gonna wake up" she said. Silence hung for a minute. Then Michelle felt a sharp pain in her arm "Ow!" she pulled her arm back.

"You're awake" Gina smiled.

Michelle smiled "I missed you" she said hugging Gina.

_(Meanwhile)_

"So, how have you been?" Tony smiled over at Corey as they drove.

"Not great, been moving up at work, but stuff with Gina just… well its better now" he smiled.

"Weddings always cause a little strain" Tony sighed.

"Well, actually it was kinda the opposite… Gina said yes when I proposed… over a year ago"

"It was _that_ long ago and you still haven't started planning the wedding?"

Corey nodded "She didn't want to plan the wedding"

Tony looked completely lost "A woman? Didn't want to plan a wedding?"

"Not without Michelle" Corey said "She refused to move forward without you guys, she been depressed since she found out about Jen"

"So what was she gonna do?"

"I don't know we were just kinda in limbo" Corey sighed "I mean…. Now that you guys are back she wants to do it and that's great but"

"You're uneasy because she didn't want to get married before" Tony finished his thought.

"I don't want her doing this for the wrong reasons"

"Makes sense" Tony nodded "I'll have Michelle talk to her"

Corey smiled "Thanks"

"I'm proud of you Corey" Tony said after a moment "I remember when Michelle first brought you home and I almost killed you" Tony laughed "But you've really grown up and I will be proud to have you as my brother-in-law"

"No matter how much you hated the idea at first" Corey chuckled.

Tony laughed "Yea"

_(10 minutes later)_

Michelle and Gina were sitting on the couch, Gina was watching TV and Michelle was looking out the window.

"He's coming" Gina assured her.

"I know" Michelle insisted "Just… looking out the window"

"You start to get up every time you hear a car, relax" Gina smirked.

Corey's car pulled up and Michelle jumped up and went to the door. She tried not to rip the door open and run outside, but it didn't work.

"Hey" Tony smiled as he got out.

Michelle stopped and grinned when she saw what he was holding. "You got us ice cream?" she smiled.

"Tradition" he answered as she closed the car door for him.

"We didn't even see a movie" she kissed him.

"You saying no to ice cream?" he asked.

"Never"

_(The next day)_

She watched the sand spring through her toes as they walked along the beach. The waves gently brushed over their ankles as they held hands. They had been walking for hours "What time is it anyway?"

"3:12" Michelle said looking at her watch.

"You wanna head back? I know you're hungry"

She was, but Michelle was loving this walk with him on the beach so much she didn't want it to end "Nope"

"I think you're lying" he teased.

"When have I ever lied to you?" she said with a smile, then it vanished and so did his.

"Look Michelle" he said stopping and pulling her back "I'm tired of being careful what we talk about, I'm tired of being afraid to do something that might bring up the past, I'm tired of having to stop myself from getting too close to you" he said taking her elbows and pulling her up against him "All this stuff we've been talking around is putting space between us and I can't handle it anymore" Michelle covered his lips with hers, kissing him hungrily and while he enjoyed it, he reluctantly pulled back "Michelle…"

Fear struck her and she squeezed his hand tighter "I don't wanna mess this up Tony" she pled "I've missed you so much" she said running her hand through his hair.

"I know baby and I've missed you too, but hey" he said cupping her face "I'm not going anywhere"

"If we are gonna have this talk I'm gonna be completely honest" she said softly.

"That's what I want" he insisted.

She looked into his eyes to confirm he was sure "Promise no matter what we say… we're gonna be okay"

"Promise" he kissed her softly "No matter what you say, no matter what I say, we will leave this beach like we came in, holding hands…" he rubbed his nose against hers "and smiling"

_When you're ready for love  
And you've conquered your fear  
And you wanna fall baby  
Fall here_

When you've had enough hurt  
And you're tired of the tears  
If you wanna fall baby  
Fall here

You're broken and jaded  
Say love's overrated  
But I say girl ain't that a shame?  
With all that he put you through  
I can't really blame you  
But don't let some fool give us all a bad name

When you're ready for love  
And you've conquered your fear  
If you wanna fall baby  
Fall here

When you've had enough hurt  
And you're tired of the tears  
If you wanna fall baby  
Fall here

Fall here  
Right into my world  
Let me catch you, girl  
Let me be the one  
Let me be the one

When you're ready for love  
When you're ready for love  
If you wanna fall I won't let you down girl  
Oh baby let go

When you're ready for love  
And you've conquered your fear  
And you're tired of the tears  
Baby fall, baby fall here  
Yeah, baby fall here

She smiled and then looked away, she looked back at him and her smile was gone, she hesitated "So where do we start?" she asked nervously.

"The beginning" he said as they continued to walk, taking a second to breathe "I kept the operation a secret…lied to you… I should have never done that" he looked over and she was watching him closely "Jack called me in and told me… the idea of the sting operation scared me… I knew the trouble I could get into and we were trying to start a family, I turned and tried to leave and _that's_ when he told me I couldn't tell you" he glanced up at the sky "I fought him of course, told him it didn't matter what he said I wouldn't keep it from you" he sighed, disappointed in himself "Then he turned to me and asked who would raise our child… I wanted to punch him for bringing this into our perfect life… we had the _world_ and in that instant he put it in danger and I thought…. Of all people, he should know better and… well anyway… I'm not making excuses… I just need you to understand that I was only trying to protect you, keeping it from you tore me apart, I hated every minute of it" he shook his head "Every time I looked at you I imagined the crushed look on your face when you found out and I almost told you so many times and the worst part…. By far was that look in your eyes… that day when you found out… and then you were mad and I was so angry with how everything was turning out that I was such a jerk"

"You had a good reason, you must've been in so much pain"

"There's never a reason to treat you the way I did… and on top of it all you were disappointed in _yourself_, I couldn't even process it… I did a horrible thing by lying to you yet there you were… blaming yourself for not seeing it and that look…that second where you looked at me like you had no idea who I was anymore" he breathed "Michelle I don't know about you but I felt like right then and there a huge valley broke out between us"

Tears slipped out of her eyes but she didn't allow herself to cry "That is _exactly_ how I felt, but no matter how disconnected we _think_ we are… we are always completely connected, whether we wanna be or not"

"That's what's made this all so hard" he shook his head "Y'know being away from you"

She nodded "Most of the scariest moments of my life were that day… that moment when I found out you had been shot"

He squeezed her hand as they walked "All I was thinking about was you, how nothing in the world was worth being away from you"

"And I should have been there for you" she sighed "I shouldn't have let Ryan get to me"

"What do you mean?"

"I should have been there when you woke up instead of staying at CTU"

"You were there when I woke up" he said "You were the first thing I remembered"

"Really? I didn't miss anything?" she asked, all she had seen were his eye open through the window, she had hated the thought of him lying there alone.

"Nope" he gave her a small smile, trying to lighten the mood "Just a bunch of guys sewing up my neck"

"I didn't miss that actually" she looked down and she knew without looking he was confused "I watched it"

"Wait… how?" he thought "Oh my god" it struck him before she could answer "The OR feeds… my god" he hugged her tightly "Baby you shouldn't have done that to yourself"

"I had to see that you were okay" she explained.

He nodded "Yea I get that… Half the times I called you…well almost all the times… I was just calling to hear your voice… to know that you were breathing, I was cherishing every single word, every breath I could make out"

"I wasn't as afraid then" she admitted.

"No, you were brave" he said as they walked "And you courage kills me… when you told me you went in I almost jumped in the car and drove there, I couldn't believe you'd put yourself in danger like that, _knowing _you would die, knowing it would be the end of us"

"All I wanted to do is save those people" she explained.

"Yea but the problem is you care way too much about me and other people without thinking of your own well-being" he sighed.

"That's a problem?"

"It is when you are everything that matters to me… what's the point in saving my life if everything I love goes with you… I would rather be in that hotel with you… that's what my plan was anyway… once you became symptomatic I was gonna just leave and go there to be with you"

"No" her eyes widened and she stopped walking.

"Ya" he nodded turning back to her.

She stared at him and thought silently for a moment, she considered how she felt when she thought Tony had died, she remembered wishing she were dead too. She looked up at him and began walking again "I guess I have no place to argue, my thoughts were similar when I thought you'd died"

He sighed "Guess we're even"

She was still deep in thought "Yea… because I lied to you too"

He didn't look up, this was something he _really_ wanted to forget "Yea"

"I said something stupid, you misunderstood and I was going to correct you…. I really was, but Tony…I hadn't seen that smile in what felt like forever and I felt like I'd never see it again… You gave up everything up for me and I could bear to take that away from you"

"Look-"

"I should never have let it happen… that's the reason you wouldn't talk to me when you came home… that's the reason you started drinking…that's what caused it all to fall apart"

"Whoah whoah whoah" he stopped her "No you are _not_ gonna take responsibility for all that"

"You know that's how it happened" she began walking again and he followed her.

"It was not that simple, y'see" he stopped her "I love you" he said "And after all the crap I was responsible for, all my lies… I had no right to hold it against you, you forgave me and I should have done the exact same"

"So why didn't you?" she asked.

"I was hiding" he answered "It was an excuse not to talk…pretending I was pissed and hurt over that… I was… but there were so many other things I didn't wanna say and that was my excuse to push you out"

"What were you hiding?" she asked.

He cringed, but she needed to know, after all him not telling her things like this is what tore them apart… it was time to tell her anything she wanted to know "I was haunted by horrible things I had seen in prison" he talked slowly and carefully, this was clearly painful for him, they had reached the core of this problem, she listened intently "fights I had been in, the way I had been abused… I was so ashamed, I could never tell you things like that… I'm a man, your man, your protector… how could I be your husband and make you feel safe if I came crying to you about people who beat me up in prison"

"Those men were monsters, we both know that… we also both know what they are capable under the right circumstances, especially in numbers" she explained "I never expected you to be invincible, in fact, I'm all too aware that I could lose you at any second" she pulled his face to close hers "Nothing…. _nothing_ can ever take away from how much I love you, how much I care, how much I rely on you… I've seen you do the impossible to save me and nothing anyone says or does can ever convince me you are any less of a man than I know you are"

"Even before the drinking I couldn't even get a job"

"I don't care, you don't need one… a wise man once told me to find something that makes me happy and just do it, because nothing else matters… everything else is background noise"

"I want to be with you, you make me happy" he said taking both her hands.

She smiled "Then nothing else matters" she kissed him softly.

She caught a glimpse of something over his shoulder and stopped suddenly, she began squinting at the buildings in the distance "Wait… how did we get-" she took a few more steps and squinted harder. She turned back to him "how long have we been walking?"

Tony looked down at his watch and laughed "almost 4 hours"

She gaped and turned back in the direction they were heading "We are less than a mile from…" she wasn't sure how to finish the sentence.

He nodded watching her reaction intently; he wasn't sure how she felt about this "Yea"

She looked down and then gazed out at the water "Wanna go see it?"

A smile tugged at his lips, she had no idea. "Okay"

She began walking again, this time more slowly, he could tell this made her slightly uneasy. She was silent, thinking of what the house looked like when she left. She became aware of her silence and attempted to ease the tension "I heard a storm was coming this afternoon" she said pointing out at the clouds.

Tony looked "I had no idea… Maybe we can wait at the house until the storm passes"

Michelle nodded "It's a good thing we are so close, I didn't even bring my phone"

"Me neither, but we can call a cab when we get there…to take us back to the car" he sighed "That reminds me… thanks for keeping up with the bills… ya know"

She looked up, his eyes were sad and full of regret "It was no big deal, most of the transfers were automatic" she shrugged.

He nodded and let it go. She stared down at her feet as they walked, studying the trail she was leaving behind.

"Hey" he said and she looked over at him "I love you"

She smiled softly "I love you too" she looked ahead.

Then he felt a few drops and she looked up at him and smiled, rain had always been their thing. The house caught her eye and her smile paused when she saw the brand new fence, well-trimmed lawn and freshly bloomed flowers. Her feet were still pulling her forward as she stared in amazement, completely oblivious to the pouring rain… any other person would have been running to escape the rain, but she didn't even seem to notice it as she stood and stared in awe at the fence. It wasn't a spectacular fence, just an ordinary fence, but to her… it meant everything.

"I thought it was about time I make good on those promises"

She looked at him and in an instant closed the gap between them; sealing their lips together in a kiss so passionate he almost lost his balance. He stumbled and supported her weight as she was now clinging to him, kissing him deeper and deeper, making it near impossible to keep them upright. She noticed his struggling and tugged on his shirt until they collapsed onto the ground. Her kiss didn't even skip a beat and as she pulled him closer his instincts began to take control as his hands wandered over her body, his self-control was paper thin and as he felt her hands run down to his hips, it vanished completely.

Where he found the strength he will never know, but in an instant he was on his feet with her wrapped around him and she soon felt the softness of their bed surround her, his lips traced down her chest to her stomach as he tugged her soaking clothes off. He froze, suddenly realizing that he was undressing her and he was about to make love to the most perfect woman in the world. This was so much better than anything he had dreamed about the past two years. He looked into her eyes, she was suddenly self-conscious, wondering why he had stopped, he read this instantly and softly whispered "You're beautiful" she once again covered his lips with hers to confirm she needed him and he didn't need anything else.


	126. Chapter 126 Come Wake Me Up

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Rascal Flatts_)

~ Chapter 126 ~

"My shoulder" Michelle giggled and squirmed, "No Tony, my shoulder" she protested in a light voice as he continued kissing her neck. She smiled "I still have another week of work, pick a different spot" she laughed. He worked his way up to the spot that made her go weak. She let out a sigh and turned around in his arms "I have a better idea" she slid under him.

He smiled down at her, with his elbows on either side of her, hanging over her protectively, he lowered his head so there lips were barely touching "I love your ideas"

She giggled "Good 'cause I got lots of them"

_(Later)_

Michelle sighed and smiled up at Tony "I feel like everything… my whole life is falling back into place"

He smiled "Except for-" he looked up at the clock "Uh oh… your date with Bill"

"Crap" she jumped up quickly then stopped and turned back around, give him a disgruntled look "It is _not_ a date"

"Call it what you want sweetheart"

Her frown fell and a smile appeared, she loved when he called her that "That's not fair" she leaned down and kissed him "You know I love that"

"Yup" he nodded "but I also know you are gonna be late if you don't hurry"

_(Later)_

"This is a disaster!"

"Don't you yell at _me_! I did what I was _told_!"

"Yea well now the charges are gonna blow without her in there"

"How were we supposed to know she wouldn't be home, she's been gone_ all _day"

"Wh-" he stopped "No WAY!" he smiled "Oh boy it's our lucky day!" he laughed pointing to the silver Mercedes pulling in "We're gonna get BOTH of them!"

"Mandy will love us"

"We should charge extra" he giggled.

"Oh this is too easy"

"Ok let's get back… I don't wanna be anywhere near here when the fire starts, we just have to stay close enough to watch the front door.

Tony smiled over at Michelle when they stopped at the building "Have fun" he smiled.

She looked at him and then pulled him to her for a passionate kiss "This isn't fair" she sighed "I've been away from you for so long" she settled into his arms "I don't wanna be away from you… not even for a minute… I just want this to be over, I don't really care what he has to say"

"Yea but he's a good guy and you owe it to him" he said "I know I owe him for watching over you when I was absent"

"I'm gonna miss you so much, I really don't want to go"

"Text me when you guys are on your way back and I will be waiting here for you"

She nodded and gave a small smile "Okay" she agreed and headed into the apartment building.

Fifteen minutes later Michelle began wondering where Bill was, he was always early for everything yet right now he was ten minutes late. She looked out the window and didn't see his car. She sighed and reached for her phone. Suddenly and there was a loud bang and she fell to the floor, she then heard the fire alarms. She stood and carefully made her way to the door but a huge crashing shook the building and she fell to her knees.

_(Shortly Thereafter)_

The building shook, Bill watched ass the fire fighters began coming out of the building with people, but not returning to the building "What the hell are you DOING!" Bill screamed.

"The structural integrity is compromised, sending people in is a _suicide_ at this point we have to try to save her another way" the firefighter said pulling out another hose.

"Try what? You HAVE to go in there! Y-" Bill was cut off by a huge rumbling that shook them all, Bill fell to his knees. The right side of the building, the side she lived on, collapsed inward "My God" Bill choked out as his eyes searched the wreckage. This had been no accident, someone had been trying to kill her, they had set this fire systematically and now she was gone.

Bill turned to see Michelle's car flying up, it turned and came to a screeching halt. Tony jumped out and ran to him "Bill, where is she?" he demanded, his eyes empty of anything but desperate fear. Bill just looked back at the building and began to cry.

Tony didn't even hesitate; he took off running toward the wreckage. Someone caught his arm "You can't go in there, it's too dangerous, you _will_ die"

"Tony she's _gone_, don't get yourself killed!" Bill yelled angrily.

"My life is over either way" he said tugging his arm away and running into the building. The wave of heat took his breath away and he was instantly cough, the flames the sprung up all around him reminded him of those from their fireplace.

Tony remembered the last fire he had watched, burning in the fireplace…

It was dark when he awoke. His head was killing him, but that was nothing compared to the awful pain in his chest, knowing that last night things had ended for good. He was ready to apologize, and if she showed up, it meant she wanted him back.

It had started so perfect, the perfect night, the perfect dinner, the perfect woman…

then 6 o'clock rolled around

then 6:05

6:10

6:15

6:30

7:00

It was pouring outside, the clear night was gone… it wasn't even light rain… the kind they always danced in…it was the violent kind… thunder, lightning, wind…then her.

He had given up too soon, it had seemed like the end of his life when she didn't show.

So he gave up… and then… there she was… and what could he say?

Now here he was, the later that night, on the couch, in the dark, a mess scattered around him from the fit he had thrown when he was drunk. Something white caught his eye.

She had found those wedding videos on her own, the ones he had promised to help her look for. He knew this would only hurt but for some reason he walked over and picked up the box anyway. He opened the DVD case and saw that one was missing and knew exactly where it was. He slumped to the floor and pressed play.

The television came to life at exactly the point where she had stopped watching.

It kept flashing between a video of them dancing at their wedding and their friends talking about them

"-and I'm not just saying that guys… I really truly believe that you will be together forever, you two deserve this more than anyone I know…especially after everything that's happened" Diane smiled.

"Gina-" they heard Liz "You had your turn!" she whispered, but let Gina talk.

"Listena me" Gina said a little tipsy "You guys are awesome and I love you Michelle… so much… not quite like Tony but a lot… anyway… I always dreamed of having a sister and trust me… I never planned on liking you but now I guess…"

she slowed down and thought for a second "you are the best sister I could ask for"

a tear escaped her eye "Ok I'm done" she announced.

She went off camera and ran back "Oh and by the way don't tell Hanna I said you were the best… you know how she gets jealous-"

He pushed the skip button and it skipped to them cutting the cake.

"See that's what really sets you two apart, its how you guys trust each other" Tony's mom said as the video showed him feeding her the cake "Don't ever break that trust"

He threw the remote at the television and threw the DVD case into the fire place. He walked over to the mantle and grabbed the lighter, quickly starting a fire, this was easier to watch then that movie. He watched as the case bent, folded and burned into black pieces.

_I can usually drink you right off of my mind_

_But I miss you tonight_

_I can normally push you right out of my heart_

_But I'm too tired to fight_

_Yeah the whole thing begins_

_And I let you sink into my veins_

_And I feel the pain like it's new_

_Everything that we were,_

_Everything that you said,_

_Everything that I did and that I couldn't do_

_Plays through tonight_

_Turn the TV up loud just to drown out your voice, but I can't forget_

_Now I'm all out of ideas and baby I'm down to my last cigarette_

_Yeah, you're probably asleep deep inside of your dreams_

_while I'm sitting here crying and trying to see_

_Yeah, wherever you are baby now I am sure you moved on_

_and aren't thinking twice about me and you tonight_

_I know that you're movin' on_

_I know I should give you up_

_But I keep hopin' that you'll trip and fall back in love_

_Time's not healin' anything_

_Baby, this pain is worse than it ever was_

_I know that you can't hear me,_

_but baby I need you to save me tonight_

_Tonight your memory burns like a fire_

_With everyone it grows higher and higher_

_I can't get over it, I just can't put out this love_

_I just sit in these flames and pray that you'll come back_

_Close my eyes tightly, hold on and hope that I'm dreaming_

_Come wake me up_

_Oh, I'm dreaming_

_Come wake me up_

He pushed his way past the furniture and fallen objects, he walked down the hall past the desk, the wall to his left was on fire so he slid along the other side as went further and further into the blackness, he couldn't see more than an inch in front of his eyes and he couldn't breathe, he choked and choked trying to keep his burning eyes open. He froze, he swore he heard a scream, he pushed further 'I should be near the stairs' he thought.

It was then that his heart almost leapt out of his chest at the sound of her voice. She was yelling help, he was surprised she wasn't choking. He put his hands out in front of him and felt the wall that he imagined the door to the staircase was on. He slid to his left feeling for the door. Surprisingly the wall wasn't as hot as the others, meaning there wasn't fire on the other side yet. Suddenly the wall felt jagged and in places he could put his hand through it, this must be where it collapsed. Suddenly something grabbed his ankle.

He dropped down and suddenly it was easier to breathe and slightly cooler near the floor, but breathing didn't matter because he could see her soot covered face, more beautiful than ever.

"I'm ok" she said quickly seeing the worry in his eyes. He stared back at her in disbelief, he would have laughed if they weren't in danger of burning to death. "My ankle" she panted "it's stuck"

He crawled over her tracing her leg back to the wall which had collapsed on her leg…she had been so close to escaping. He pulled his legs up under him and began choking again as he pulled himself up and began to pull upward on the beam right above her leg. Suddenly her legs disappeared beneath him and he felt her tugging his arm. He let go of the beam and allowed her to drag him, it was then he realized she was limping. He jerked her arm so she was within his reach and swept her into his arms, pulling her face into his chest as he ran keeping as close to the non-burning wall as possible. Finally they got back to the lobby but there was now a wall of fire in between them and the door. Tony curled his head down to whisper in her ear "Tuck your legs in" he choked "and keep your eyes closed baby" she obeyed and he held her curled into a ball as he begin to run and jumped over the fire and blasted through the glass of the front window. He was met by fire extinguishers spraying the lower half of his body, part of his pants had caught fire, but he hadn't felt it. They tried to pry her from him but he held too tightly.

"Sir let go! We have to check her out!" the paramedic demanded as he pulled the gurney closer.

Tony nodded and laid her down on the gurney as another one pulled up behind him and he was forced on his back and an air mask was strapped to his face. He looked over and she looked toward him, she had a mask too. He reached for her but there were too many people in the way. They rolled her away into one of the ambulances and he felt his gurney began to roll away too.

_(Later)_

"Alright Ms. Dessler you are all set" The doctor said leading Michelle out of the exam room. She followed him on her crutches. "Is there someone I can call for you?" he asked.

"My husband is here somewhere" she said as she hopped into the hallway and realized Bill was waiting there.

"Oh, here he is" the doctor smiled "Have a great day, we'll see you in a few weeks" he said walking away.

"Husband?" Bill asked.

Michelle sighed "Where is he?" she was tired of being polite and diplomatic, she wanted Tony. Not Bill. Right now.

"He's got some burns on his legs… nothing major, they are almost done with him"

"I want to see him"

"I know, that's why I came… to bring you to him" Bill said leading her down the hall and holding the elevator so she could get in. The doors closed and it was just them "If there is anything I learned today it's that Tony is what's best for you"

Michelle looked up at him.

"I'm gonna let you go" he said looking down "You could have died today because of me"

"What do you mean?" she demanded as the doors opened.

He held the door but she refused to move "Come on" he beckoned "I'll explain everything"

They walked down the hall and stopped at a set of benches outside Tony's room. There was a window and they could see Tony looking in the opposite direction at the television.

Bill looked up at Tony and then over at Michelle "I never completely believed all the amazing things everyone said about Tony, the stories just seemed too perfect and I didn't want to believe that a man that brave and loving existed, because if a man like that did exist, I would know that I had no chance with you… but today I have seen that, that man _does_ exist, he's right there" Bill sighed with a small sad smile "and I have no chance"

Michelle's head wilted to the side "Bill" she began softly.

"No" he cut her off "Really, I have never seen anything like this and I have seen glimpses of it of the past few weeks…. and today I saw it in full and… trust me, he's what's best for you"

Michelle smiled and let out a small laugh "Yea I know"

"No… Michelle you don't understand" Bill said still serious "They would not let him go in, _I _told him not to go in… they told him you were dead and that going in would be suicide… he didn't even _hesitate_"

Michelle was clearly trying not to cry but emotion was visibly tugging at her "Why did he go in if he knew he'd die even if he did find me…" she whispered trying not to cry "after they told him I was dead… it wouldn't matter"

Bill looked down, he knew this would make her cry and he didn't want to watch "He said his life was over either way"

The tears spilled from her eyes silently as she watched him stand up and hand the doctor his release forms. He stood and came out of the room "Hey, are you okay?" he asked seeing Michelle's face.

She stood and completely forgot her broken ankle, she attempted to walk to him, but her ankle went limp and he caught her, pulling her back up with a smile "What are-"

She cut him off, reaching and pulling his face to hers, kissing him passionately, he pulled her closer, supporting the weight she couldn't. When she ran out of air she released him. He laughed as he caught his breath kissing her forehead "You're welcome?" he smiled.

"You are in _so_ much trouble" she mumbled trying to reach for her crutches.

"I'm gonna go help with the investigation" Bill said standing up. As he passed them he stopped and put his hand on Tony's shoulder "Thank you Tony" he said then he turned to Michelle "Feel better" he said turning and walking away.

"Here" Tony said handing Michelle her crutches. She frowned "I could carry you" he smiled.

"Gimme those" she snatched them and shifted her weight onto them "Besides you are in no condition to be-"

She was suddenly weightless "Wanna bet?"


	127. Chapter 127 Right Where I Need to Be

Title: Faithfully Yours

Author: MichelleBA

Summary: The lives of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, together and apart, through the good and bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler or any of the other mentioned "24" characters or things. (Lyrics by _Gary Allan_)

~ Chapter 127 ~

"Tony. No."

He dropped his arms and put his hands on his hips shaking his head and scratching his face with a lopsided smile "Do you really think you are in any condition to fight me?" he said indicating to her ankle.

"I could take you with my arms tied behind my back" she rolled her eyes, succeed in keeping her face straight.

"Ok ok. Now I'm gonna pretend like that didn't hurt and carry you inside now"

She huffed as he lifted her out of the car, secretly thinking it was sweet, letting go and finally smiling into his chest as they neared the house.

She couldn't help but kiss the little chest hair peeking out from his t-shirt. He beamed down at her as shifted her weight to one arm and unlocked and opened the front door.

_(A few hours later)_

The doorbell rang and Tony untangled himself from her then reluctantly pulled himself off the couch, running his fingers through his hair wondering who it could be.

"Hey" Bill smiled "Sorry to bother you guys, but Michelle just needs to sign these forms to be released from her last week of work"

"Ok" Tony squinted at the papers "Come on in"

Bill followed Tony inside, their home was gorgeous and he was still amazed that Michelle had settled for a little apartment after living _here_. He was also surprised that they had just left it sitting here empty and she had never brought him here… as the walked through the foyer and he saw the big pictures of them in different places with huge smiles on their face, he realized exactly why.

They walked into the living room and he spotted her passed out on the couch with her arms stretched in one direction, like she had been holding something…or more likely someone. He had never seen her so relaxed. She was awake, running, directing… but now she was laying here completely defenseless and peaceful. This was a sight to see.

Tony walked over and rubbed her arm.

"No, you know what? Don't wake her, she barely ever sleeps" Bill said quickly.

Tony had his back to Bill, a mischievous smile crept across his lips "Yea well that's her own fault, she has no problem falling asleep" he nudged her again "She's also the deepest sleeper ever, but I know how to get her up" he shook her shoulder gently.

After a moment Michelle was still fast asleep. "Maybe you don't," Bill chuckled.

"I do" Tony insisted "I know plenty of ways to wake her up, just none of them seem appropriate right now" he said running his fingers through her hair "Baby wake up" he said softly.

She began to roll over then stopped when she realized he wasn't lying next to her, she opened her eyes

"Bill needs you to sign a couple forms"

She blinked a few times and sat up "Oh, ok"

"Sorry to wake you, just trying to save you a trip to the office"

She blinked a few times "Yea it's okay… just drowsy from all the medication" she tried a smile but she really wasn't feeling well "How's the investigation?" she asked taking the forms.

"No leads"

She looked up "What do you mean?"

"They haven't been able to find anything"

A look Bill didn't recognize flashed across Michelle's face, Tony knew it was a flash of fear "That's absurd there is surveillance everywhere and I guarantee they weren't being as cautious as they should because they thought the whole thing was going down in flames"

"Don't worry, we haven't given up yet"

"Yet?" she echoed and shook her head. How could he be so cavalier? "Forget it"

Tony gave Bill a small smile "The meds make her cranky"

"They do not" she muttered trying to get up.

He stood and helped her up. Once she was up she pulled her hands away to prove she could walk by herself and he still smiled as he watched her struggle "So stubborn" he muttered.

"I'll give you stubborn" she called back.

Bill stood "Thanks for stopping by Bill" Tony smiled handing him the papers

"You think she's mad at me?" he asked when she was out of earshot.

"Nah" Tony assured him "I think she's frustrated that there's a situation and for once… it's not her job and she's got an injury preventing her from doing anything about it"

He nodded "You're right"

They heard the sound of a plate shattering onto the floor "Ouch… that's my queue, thanks again Bill"

He nodded and disappeared.

She was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, staring at the plate.

"Sweetheart what's the matter?"

"Just another thing I can't do you"

"Baby you've never been able to cook" he smiled sitting next to her "What's really going on?"

She was silent for a second then she looked into his eyes "Has it hit you yet? We almost _died_. There are people out there who want us dead… badly enough that they are following us around plating _bombs_" she looked down "And I'm _completely_ useless"

"I know you're frustrated baby, but try to relax… I'm not gonna let anything happen to you"

"Tony, I've never felt so vulnerable and disconnected, up until yesterday I had full access to top-secret information, weapons, teams and today I'm just a sitting duck with one good leg"

He kissed her head "I will keep you safe, we have a world class alarm system which we designed and we can have our own" he stopped and smiled. He stood and stretched his hands out to her. She looked up unsurely and gave him her hands.

He pulled her up into his arms "I think I have an idea that will make you feel so much better"

_(Later)_

"Ok so now the cake" Gina sighed "What's your favorite flavor cake?"

"I don't really have one" Corey said.

"Oh come on Core" Gina rolled her eyes.

"Well what's yours?"

She smiled guiltily "I don't have one"

"Hypocrite" he muttered and they both laughed.

"Why isn't this fun?" Gina groaned "Isn't planning our wedding supposed to be exciting?"

"Because Tony and Michelle are making us decide all this stuff on our own"

"Yea and we don't really care about what color napkins people will eat with"

"Or what entrée choices they should have"

"Or music they should hear"

Gina frowned "You know it sounds like we have to worry way too much about all those people coming"

"I don't even really care who comes, honestly" Corey said "As long as you're there" he smiled.

"I'll try to work it in to my schedule, I might be busy" she smiled.

"At least we know Tony and Michelle will be there, no work emergencies anymore"

"Yea for the first time they can relax" she nodded.

"They should throw a party" Corey concluded.

"They should get _married_!" Gina jumped up.

"You think they'll agree?"

"They won't get a chance to disagree, we'll throw them a surprise wedding! We will build it the way they want it and pretend like it's ours until…. BAM! This is gonna be great!"

"I know, I know and I _want_ to do it, but are you sure they're _ready_?"

She stopped "Let's go find out"

"Wait what?" he asked confused.

"Let's go hang out with them and kinda… feel them out… see where they are"

"Secret research mission" he smiled

"Let's go"

_(20 minutes later)_

"We can totally do this Tony!" Michelle smiled widely "It everything we know how to do and we can use it to our advantage"

"I'm so glad you're on board" he laughed and opened his arms as he sat in his desk chair.

She leaned forward in her desk chair to reach for him "Are you kidding!?" she chirped as he took her hand and pulled her chair to his and pulled her into his lap "It's exactly what I've always wanted!" she ran her fingers through her hair "Our _own_ company" she said "Protecting people, spending all my days with you, working with you without having to answer to anyone, no bosses to regulate our work relationship, no dangerous field missions, no unwanted business trips"

He smiled mischievously "That's right, we can go on trips together, we can vacation whenever we want, I can even do this at work" he pulled her closer into his lap.

"I can do this at work" she leaned down and kissed him

"Wanna see what I can do?" he smiled against her mouth.

_(Meanwhile)_

"Hello?" Gina called

"Tony?" Corey called.

"Stop" Gina grabbed his arm "Listen"

Corey smiled at the sounds coming from upstairs "Oh I have a feeling they are getting along quite well"

"She should be resting" Gina sighed disapprovingly.

"I have a feeling she's not using her ankle right now" Corey smirked.

"Whatever" she rolled her eyes "Let them have their fun, we have a wedding to plan"

_(Later)_

Tony opened his eyes to Michelle wrapped in his arms but staring at the ceiling

"What's on your mind baby?" he asked softly.

"Do you really think we can do this?" she asked "Our own company"

"I know we can" he assured her "I think that together, the two of us can do _anything_" he smiled and she read his mind.

"You know this is so surreal being here like this with you" she looked over at him and scooted her head toward his so their noses were touching "Thinking, dreaming, planning of _our_ future" she smiled at how the words sounded.

"Forever sounds awfully short with you" he snuggled closer to her "I wanna do so many things with you"

"We will do them all" she smiled, then her smile sunk "Well as soon as this blows over"

"I'm not sure it's that simple considering they don't even have any leads"

"Throughout my career I saw children put in danger by their parents for no good reason… I don't want to have children when people who want us dead could be following us at any time"

"Look, we never know what tomorrow will bring and you know that I will die to make sure any children we have stay safe, but how about this" he brushed a curl out of her face "how about we meet with Chloe and set up an escape plan… like what Jack is doing… except we will have it all planned, we can have a random little house in the middle of nowhere ready under our fake names and a plan of escape if we ever feel something is up… ok? We will be able to disappear immediately if we ever think something's wrong"

She nodded "I like that idea"

"Because we need to be able to live our life, so many things have held us back… CTU, terrorists, fear, prison, heartbreak, separation… in the past we have let these things get in the way, but now… can't you see? None of it is worth it. All that matters is this"

_Lately I've been on the road more than I've been home_  
_All this leavin' her alone is killin' me_  
_And holdin' her right now has got me thinkin' more and more_  
_This is right where I need to be_

_Where when I hear her I can see her_  
_I can smell her sweet perfume_  
_I can feel her skin against me when I sleep_  
_Where I won't miss her I can kiss her_  
_Anytime that I want to_  
_Yeah that's right where I need to be_  
_Yeah that's right where I need to be_

"You're right" she agreed softly.

"We deserve some happiness" he said stroking her face.

She nodded and smiled thinking back to his earlier statement "Because forever with you… is too short"


End file.
